Is Religion and Environmentalism a Complement or a Substitute?: A Club Based Approach

Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, 2015, Volume 11, Article 1

29 Pages Posted: 27 Jul 2010 Last revised: 24 Jan 2015

See all articles by Feler Bose

Feler Bose

Indiana University East, School of Business & Economics

Tim Komarek

Valdosta State University

Date Written: December 1, 2014

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the causal link between membership in environmental groups and active participation and membership in religious groups. We use a club-based model and employ OLS and spatial econometrics with controls to test for whether membership and participation in a religious group is a substitute or complement for membership in environmental groups. Instrumental variables estimation was used as a robustness check. We found that religious participation and religious membership in evangelical groups are a substitute for environmental membership. Much of the work on environmental concerns has focused on answers to survey questions, not on membership. We used a dataset of environmental membership at the county level to perform our analysis. We further add quantitative evidence to the discussion by some researchers on the link between religion and environmentalism. In this respect, our work aims to investigate further the causal links between religion and environmentalism.

Keywords: Evangelical, Adherence rate, environmentalism, location quotient, Religion, Substitute, Complement

JEL Classification: Q50, Q59, Z12

Suggested Citation

Bose, Feler and Komarek, Timothy, Is Religion and Environmentalism a Complement or a Substitute?: A Club Based Approach (December 1, 2014). Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, 2015, Volume 11, Article 1, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1649225 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1649225

Feler Bose (Contact Author)

Indiana University East, School of Business & Economics ( email )

2325 Chester Blvd.
Richmond, IN 47374-1289
United States

Timothy Komarek

Valdosta State University ( email )

1500 N Patterson Street
Valdosta, GA 31698
United States

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