On the causal effect of religiosity on life satisfaction using a propensity score matching technique

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of religious involvement on subjective well-being (SWB), specifically taking into account the implication of selection effects explaining religious influence using the British Household Panel Survey data set.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to measure the level of religious involvement, the authors construct different indices on the base of individual religious belonging, participation and beliefs applying a propensity score matching estimator.

Findings

The results show that religious active participation plays a relevant role among the different aspects of religiosity; moreover, having a strong religious identity such as, at the same time, belonging to any religion, attending religious services once a week or more and believing that religion makes a great difference in life, has a high causal impact on SWB. The authors’ findings are robust to different aspects of life satisfaction.

Originality/value

The authors offer an econometric account of the causal impact of different aspects of religiosity finding evidence that the causal effect of religious involvement on SWB is better captured than through typical regression methodologies focussing on the mean effects of the explanatory variables.

Citation

Zotti, R., Speziale, N. and Barra, C. (2016), "On the causal effect of religiosity on life satisfaction using a propensity score matching technique", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 43 No. 10, pp. 1031-1048. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-12-2014-0262