A simulation study of how religious fundamentalism takes root
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Publication Date
2021-12Journal Title
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
ISSN
0167-2681
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
192
Pages
465-481
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Fan, J., Friedman, D., Gair, J., Iyer, S., Redlicki, B., & Velu, C. (2021). A simulation study of how religious fundamentalism takes root. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 192 465-481. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2021.10.017
Abstract
Religious fundamentalism is observed across the world. We investigate its roots
using agent-based simulations of religiosity dynamics in a spatially dispersed population. Agents’ religiosity responds to neighbors via direct interactions as well as via
club goods effects. A simulation run is deemed fundamentalist if the final distribution
contains a cohesive subset of agents with very high religiosity. We investigate whether
such distributions are more prevalent when model parameters are shifted to reflect the
transition from traditional societies to the modern world. The simulations suggest that
the rise of fundamentalism in the modern world is aided by weaker attachment to the
peer group, greater real income, and less compatibility between religious and secular goods, and arguably also by higher relative prices for secular goods and lower tolerance. Surprisingly, the current model suggests little role for the rise of long-distance communication and transportation
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/R024367/1)
Embargo Lift Date
2023-06-30
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2021.10.017
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/330657
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