IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ememar/v52y2022ics1566014122000358.html

Beyond religion and culture: The economic consequences of the institutionalization of sharia law

Author

Listed:
  • Lattanzio, Gabriele

Abstract

Religious and cultural practices have major implications for a Country's economic performance. However, it is not clear if the formal institutionalization of these social norms within a country's legal system causes material economic effects. In this study I show this to be the case. By employing the synthetic control methodology to mitigate endogeneity concerns, I show that the institutionalization of Sharia Law within a Muslim-majority country's legal system causes material economic costs. Results hold in different settings, confirming that the governmental enforcement of existing social norms constrain individuals' social and economic freedom, ultimately resulting in worsened economic outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Lattanzio, Gabriele, 2022. "Beyond religion and culture: The economic consequences of the institutionalization of sharia law," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ememar:v:52:y:2022:i:c:s1566014122000358
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ememar.2022.100918
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1566014122000358
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ememar.2022.100918?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kroszner, Randall S. & Laeven, Luc & Klingebiel, Daniela, 2007. "Banking crises, financial dependence, and growth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 187-228, April.
    2. Alberto Alesina & Paola Giuliano, 2015. "Culture and Institutions," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(4), pages 898-944, December.
    3. Grier, Kevin & Maynard, Norman, 2016. "The economic consequences of Hugo Chavez: A synthetic control analysis," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 1-21.
    4. Levine, Ross & Zervos, Sara, 1998. "Stock Markets, Banks, and Economic Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 537-558, June.
    5. Andrei Shleifer & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Rafael La Porta, 2008. "The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 285-332, June.
    6. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    7. Robert C. Feenstra & Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2015. "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3150-3182, October.
    8. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2001. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1369-1401, December.
    9. Mahmoud A. El-Gamal, 2001. "An Economic Explication of the Prohibition of Gharar in Classical Islamic Jurisprudence," Islamic Economic Studies, The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), vol. 8, pages 29-58.
    10. Robert J. Barro & Rachel M. McCleary, 2005. "Which Countries Have State Religions?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(4), pages 1331-1370.
    11. Beck, Thorsten & Levine, Ross, 2004. "Stock markets, banks, and growth: Panel evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 423-442, March.
    12. Guido Tabellini, 2010. "Culture and Institutions: Economic Development in the Regions of Europe," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 8(4), pages 677-716, June.
    13. Greif,Avner, 2006. "Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521480444, Enero-Abr.
    14. Abadie, Alberto & Diamond, Alexis & Hainmueller, Jens, 2010. "Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Estimating the Effect of California’s Tobacco Control Program," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 105(490), pages 493-505.
    15. Ross Levine, 1997. "Financial Development and Economic Growth: Views and Agenda," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 688-726, June.
    16. Erik Meyersson, 2014. "Islamic Rule and the Empowerment of the Poor and Pious," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(1), pages 229-269, January.
    17. Douglass C. North, 2005. "Introduction to Understanding the Process of Economic Change," Introductory Chapters, in: Understanding the Process of Economic Change, Princeton University Press.
    18. Adhikari, Binay Kumar & Agrawal, Anup, 2016. "Does local religiosity matter for bank risk-taking?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 272-293.
    19. Khan, Feisal, 2010. "How 'Islamic' is Islamic Banking?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 805-820, December.
    20. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-586, June.
    21. Stulz, Rene M. & Williamson, Rohan, 2003. "Culture, openness, and finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 313-349, December.
    22. Henderson, J. Vernon & Kuncoro, Ari, 2011. "Corruption and local democratization in Indonesia: The role of Islamic parties," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 164-180, March.
    23. Benjamin F. Jones & Benjamin A. Olken, 2005. "Do Leaders Matter? National Leadership and Growth Since World War II," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(3), pages 835-864.
    24. Gouda, Moamen & Potrafke, Niklas, 2016. "Gender equality in Muslim-majority countries," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 683-698.
    25. King, Gary & Zeng, Langche, 2006. "The Dangers of Extreme Counterfactuals," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 131-159, April.
    26. Jerg Gutmann & Stefan Voigt, 2015. "The rule of law and constitutionalism in Muslim countries," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 351-380, March.
    27. Alberto Abadie & Alexis Diamond & Jens Hainmueller, 2015. "Comparative Politics and the Synthetic Control Method," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 59(2), pages 495-510, February.
    28. Alberto Abadie & Javier Gardeazabal, 2003. "The Economic Costs of Conflict: A Case Study of the Basque Country," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 113-132, March.
    29. De Gregorio, Jose & Guidotti, Pablo E., 1995. "Financial development and economic growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 433-448, March.
    30. Moamen Gouda & Jerg Gutmann, 2021. "Islamic constitutions and religious minorities," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 186(3), pages 243-265, March.
    31. Solow, Barbara L., 1985. "Caribbean slavery and British growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 99-115.
    32. Timur Kuran, 2004. "Why the Middle East is Economically Underdeveloped: Historical Mechanisms of Institutional Stagnation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(3), pages 71-90, Summer.
    33. Solow, Barbara L., 1985. "Caribbean slavery and British growth : The Eric Williams hypothesis," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 99-115.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Costa Filho, João Ricardo, 2026. "From Code to Court: the Impact of Brazil’s Digital Bill of Rights on Tech Lawsuits," MPRA Paper 127781, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Adel Benhamed & Mohamed Sadok Gassouma, 2023. "Preventing Oil Shock Inflation: Sustainable Development Mechanisms vs. Islamic Mechanisms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-16, June.
    3. Zuo, Zhigang & Zheng, Wenquan & Wang, Chengqi & Su, Jiaoyue & Desai, Malay N., 2025. "Unveiling the influence of host-country religiosity on the completion of cross-border merger and acquisition deals," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(5).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marrazzo, Marco & Terzi, Alessio, 2017. "Structural reform waves and economic growth," Working Paper Series 2111, European Central Bank.
    2. Alessio Terzi & Pasqual Marco Marrazzo, 2017. "Wide-reaching Structural Reforms and Growth: A Cross-country Synthetic Control Approach," CID Working Papers 82a, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    3. Robbert Maseland, 2013. "Parasitical cultures? The cultural origins of institutions and development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 109-136, June.
    4. Nuno Garoupa & Rok Spruk, 2025. "Revolutions as structural breaks: the long-term economic and institutional consequences of the 1979 Iranian Revolution," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 273-301, September.
    5. Fuchs-Schündeln, N. & Hassan, T.A., 2016. "Natural Experiments in Macroeconomics," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 923-1012, Elsevier.
    6. Miletkov, Mihail & Wintoki, M. Babajide, 2012. "Financial development and the evolution of property rights and legal institutions," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 650-673.
    7. Ángela Concha & Rodrigo Taborda, 2014. "Insurance use and economic growth in Latin America. Some panel data evidence," Revista Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, CIE, issue 81, pages 31-55.
    8. Idriss Fontaine & Justinien Razafindravaosolonirina, 2023. "The income loss of a political crisis: Evidence from Madagascar," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 657-681, July.
    9. Campos, Nauro F. & De Grauwe, Paul & Ji, Yuemei, 2025. "Structural reforms and economic performance: the experience of advanced economies," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120870, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Arayssi, Mahmoud & Fakih, Ali, 2017. "Finance–growth nexus in a changing political region: How important was the Arab Spring?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 106-123.
    11. Law, Siong Hook & Singh, Nirvikar, 2014. "Does too much finance harm economic growth?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 36-44.
    12. Maximiliano Marzetti & Rok Spruk, 2023. "Long-Term Economic Effects of Populist Legal Reforms: Evidence from Argentina," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(1), pages 60-95, March.
    13. Conzo, Pierluigi & Aassve, Arnstein & Fuochi, Giulia & Mencarini, Letizia, 2017. "The cultural foundations of happiness," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 268-283.
    14. Pavlik, Jamie Bologna & Jahan, Israt & Young, Andrew T., 2023. "Do longer constitutions corrupt?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    15. Alberto Bucci & Boubacar Diallo & Simone Marsiglio, 2023. "On The Nonlinearity of the Finance and Growth Relation: the Role of Human Capital," CEIS Research Paper 567, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 20 Nov 2023.
    16. Davis, Lewis S. & Williamson, Claudia R., 2016. "Culture and the regulation of entry," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 1055-1083.
    17. James B. Ang, 2008. "A Survey Of Recent Developments In The Literature Of Finance And Growth," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 536-576, July.
    18. Gabriel, Ricardo Duque & Pessoa, Ana Sofia, 2024. "Adopting the euro: A synthetic control approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    19. Mihail K. Miletkov & Viktoriya Staneva, 2025. "Financing a Sustainable Future: The Diverging Effects of Equity and Credit Market Development on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 201(3), pages 735-757, October.
    20. Randall Morck & Bernard Yeung, 2017. "East Asian Financial and Economic Development," NBER Working Papers 23845, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • F63 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Economic Development
    • K00 - Law and Economics - - General - - - General (including Data Sources and Description)
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ememar:v:52:y:2022:i:c:s1566014122000358. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620356 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.