Religiosity and Happiness: an
ever-Winning Couple? An
Answer from India
Matteo Migheli
(University of Eastern Piedmont)
New Directions in Welfare
Paris (OCSE), 5th – 8th July 2011
Religiosity and happiness
Several works study the relationship between religious attitudes and
happiness. In particular the extant literature shows that:

religious people are happier than non religious people
(Chamberlain and Zika, 1988; Ellison et al.; 1989, Ellison, 1991)
also in transition countries (Lelkes, 2006)

places of worship facilitate social relationships, and hence
happiness (Witter et al., 1985 and Hayo, 2007)

participation in religious organizations and services contributes to
community integration and happiness (Ferriss, 2002)

The possibility of choosing the preferred denomination freely
increases individual happiness (Iannaccone et al., 1997 and
Barro and McClearly, 2001)
Religiosity and happiness
Barro and McClearly (2001) argue that multireligious societies
enhance happiness. However Mookerjee and Beron (2005) show
that religious fragmentation is responsible for a decrease in
individual happiness, in accordance with Montalvo and ReynalQuerol (2003)
The existing literature seems to suggest that religiosity generally
fosters happiness, even though fragmentation is an obstacle for
it. However some empirical evidence shows that also in presence
of fragmentation the positive link between religion and happiness
holds (Swinyard et al., 2001 and Francis et al., 2004).
The aim of this paper is to analyze this puzzle, in order to try to
better understand it.
Aim of the paper
This paper tries to show that religiosity enhances
happiness unless the individual is member of a
minority denomination AND this is source of
discrimination (and persecution) by the members of
the majority denomination(s). Otherwise religiosity is
actually source of happiness.
This paper analyzes the Indian situation because
India:


is one of the riches countries of the world in terms of
religious denominations
is the historical theatre of two of the most important cases
of religious discrimination in the world (Sikhs and Muslims)
Religious conflict(s) in contemporary India

Hindus vs. Muslims conflict




this is the most relevant religious conflict in India, involving
a very large number of people
the conflict results in periodic episodes of violence and
discrimination against the minority group
the existence of extremist political parties against both the
Hindus and the Muslims contribute to worsening the
situation
Hindus vs. Sikhs conflict:



this is a (almost totally) solved conflict
the solution is partially equal to the one adopted for the
Muslims
the situation of Punjab provides some robustness to the
major hypothesis of the paper
Data and metodology





The World Value Survey provides the largest
majority of the data used here.
All the four waves of the survey are used
Happiness is recorded as a four-digit variable
Hence an ordered probit analysis is used
Before showing that the Muslims (and only
them) are less happy than the Hindus, I show
that they are discriminated in terms of wages
Controls








Religious affiliation
Importance of religion
Share of religion X in state Y
Education
Income
Employment status
Marital status
Age
Results:
Table 1
Results: Table 2
Table 6. Ordered probit analyses including religious shares
Whole sample
Coefficient
Religious
Atheist
Income
Complete primary
Incomplete vocational
Complete vocational
Incomplete preparatory
Complete preparatory
Incomplete university
Complete university or higher
Male
Married
Widow
Divorced
Living with partner but not married
Self-employed
Full-time employed
Unemployed
0.006
(0.042)
0.005
(0.094)
0.016
(0.007)**
0.249
(0.057)***
0.396
(0.085)***
0.267
(0.083)***
0.365
(0.053)***
0.411
(0.053)***
0.387
(0.072)***
0.497
(0.051)***
-0.047
(0.034)
0.095
(0.047)**
-0.216
(0.094)**
-0.075
(0.229)
0.252
(0.107)**
-0.009
(0.048)
-0.160
(0.043)***
-0.159
(0.061)***
Whole sample
Marginal effects
(score = 1)
(score = 3)
-0.001
0.002
(0.010)
(0.014)
-0.001
0.002
(0.023)
(0.031)
-0.004
0.005
(0.002)**
(0.002)**
-0.059
0.085
(0.013)***
(0.021)***
-0.089
0.141
(0.017)***
(0.033)***
-0.062
0.092
(0.018)***
(0.031)***
-0.085
0.127
(0.011)***
(0.019)***
-0.094
0.143
(0.011)***
(0.020)***
-0.088
0.137
(0.014)***
(0.027)***
-0.115
0.171
(0.011)***
(0.019)***
0.012
-0.015
(0.009)
(0.011)
-0.024
0.030
(0.012)***
(0.015)**
0.055
-0.065
(0.024)**
(0.026)**
0.019
-0.024
(0.058)
(0.070)
-0.059
0.087
(0.023)**
(0.039)**
0.002
-0.003
(0.012)
(0.015)
0.040
-0.050
(0.011)***
(0.013)***
0.040
-0.049
(0.016)**
(0.018)***
Religious only
Coefficient
0.013
(0.008)
0.217
(0.062)***
0.397
(0.095)***
0.253
(0.095)***
0.308
(0.057)***
0.369
(0.058)***
0.353
(0.085)***
0.467
(0.058)***
-0.056
(0.038)
0.056
(0.052)
-0.380
(0.108)***
-0.264
(0.277)
0.281
(0.116)***
0.017
(0.052)
-0.130
(0.048)***
-0.131
(0.069)*
Religious people only
Marginal effects
(score = 1)
(score = 3)
-0.003
(0.002)
-0.051
(0.014)***
-0.088
(0.019)***
-0.059
(0.021)***
-0.072
(0.013)***
-0.085
(0.012)***
-0.080
(0.017)***
-0.108
(0.012)***
0.014
(0.009)
-0.014
(0.013)
0.098
(0.028)***
0.067
(0.072)
-0.065
(0.024)***
-0.004
(0.013)
0.032
(0.012)***
0.033
(0.017)**
0.004
(0.003)
0.074
(0.022)***
0.142
(0.036)***
0.088
(0.035)**
0.107
(0.021)***
0.129
(0.021)***
0.125
(0.032)***
0.162
(0.021)***
-0.018
(0.013)
0.018
(0.017)
-0.109
(0.026)***
-0.078
(0.073)
0.098
(0.043)**
0.006
(0.017)
-0.041
(0.015)***
-0.041
(0.021)**
Results: Table 2 (continued)
Student
Buddhist
Christian
Jain
Jew
Muslim
Sikh
Importance of religion
Importance of tolerance
Percentage of Buddhists
Percentage of Christians
Percentage of Jain
Percentage of Muslims
Percentage of Sikhs
Age
Second wave
Third wave
Size of town
-0.030
(0.051)
0.218
(0.182)
-0.074
(0.080)
-0.312
(0.231)
-0.538
(0.231)**
-0.107
(0.051)**
0.347
(0.198)*
0.102
(0.014)***
0.190
(0.030)***
-1.791
(1.166)
0.214
(0.374)
11.896
(4.258)***
-0.993
(0.245)***
0.328
(0.293)
-0.004
(0.001)***
0.403
(0.043)***
0.245
(0.049)***
0.011
(0.007)
Predicted Pr(y = n)
Actual Pr(y = n)
Number of observations
Wald chi2
Pseudo R2
Log pseudolikelihood
5,829
442,57
0.0334
-6,501.36
0.008
(0.013)
-0.051
(0.040)
0.019
(0.020)
0.080
(0.060)
0.136
(0.055)**
0.027
(0.013)**
-0.079
(0.040)**
-0.025
(0.004)***
-0.047
(0.008)***
0.445
(0.290)
-0.053
(0.093)
-2.953
(1.059)***
0.246
(0.061)***
-0.081
(0.073)
9*10-4
(3*10-4)***
-0.096
(0.010)***
-0.059
(0.012)***
-0.003
(0.002)
-0.010
(0.016)
0.075
(0.066)
-0.023
(0.025)
-0.090
(0.058)
-0.140
(0.046)***
-0.033
(0.016)**
0.123
(0.075)*
0.033
(0.005)***
0.061
(0.009)***
-0.577
(0.375)
0.069
(0.121)
3.835
(1.373)***
-0.320
(0.079)***
0.106
(0.094)
-0.001
(4*10-4)***
0.136
(0.015)***
0.081
(0.017)***
0.004
(0.002)
0.215
0.220
0.257
0.265
-0.047
(0.057)
0.357
(0.213)*
-0.025
(0.086)
-0.291
(0.234)
-0.176
(0.057)***
-0.150
(0.055)***
0.494
(0.213)**
0.100
(0.016)***
0.170
(0.033)***
-1.717
(1.226)
0.173
(0.398)
16.496
(4.575)***
-0.880
(0.280)***
0.196
(0.300)
-0.003
(0.001)**
0.386
(0.048)***
0.182
(0.055)***
0.009
(0.008)
4,794
363.14
0.0334
-5,323.88
0.012
(0.014)
-0.080
(0.042)
0.006
(0.021)
0.074
(0.061)
0.045
(0.015)***
0.038
(0.014)***
-0.105
(0.037)***
-0.025
(0.004)***
-0.042
(0.008)***
0.424
(0.303)
-0.043
(0.098)
-4.075
(1.135)***
0.217
(0.069)***
-0.048
(0.074)
9*10-4
(4*10-4)**
-0.091
(0.011)***
-0.044
(0.013)***
-0.002
(0.002)
-0.015
(0.018)
0.127
(0.081)
-0.008
(0.027)
-0.085
(0.061)
-0.054
(0.016)***
-0.047
(0.016)***
0.180
(0.084)**
0.032
(0.005)***
0.055
(0.011)***
-0.558
(0.398)
0.056
(0.129)
5.360
(1.487)***
-0.286
(0.091)***
0.064
(0.098)
-0.001
(5*10-4)**
0.131
(0.017)***
0.060
(0.019)***
0.003
(0.003)
0.211
0.220
0.261
0.265
Results: Highlights






Muslim and Jewish are less happy than the members to other
religions
The larger the share of Muslims in a federated state population,
the less happy a Muslim is
The Sikhs living in Punjab (where they are the predominant
religious group) are happier than the Hindus. They are not
significantly happier or more unhappy than the Hindus outside
Punjab
These results are consistent with the literature on polarisation.
The result for the Catholics is positive, weakly significant. This
may be due to their concentration in the former French and
Portuguese territories.
The more religion is important, the happier the person.
Results: Highlights




Education fosters happiness
Married people are happier than the others
The unemployed are less happy than the
employed.
Happiness decreases with age.
Conclusions

Together with the extant literature this study shows
that:





belonging to a discriminated minority group is source of
unhappiness
the simple fact of being member of a minority group does
not affect happiness: discrimination caused by the
membership does
hence religious fragmentation is not per se sufficient to
produce a reduction of happiness
there are factors which affect happiness in the long run:
happiness is not just contingent
Being member of a locally major group is source of
happiness (see the case of the Sikhs)