Conference Paper
Religion and Economic Attitudes in Arab Countries
No.
ERF32AC_168
Publisher
ERF
Date
May, 2026
Religion remains deeply embedded in Arab societies, yet its economic implications are often portrayed in essentialist or anti-market terms. Drawing on pooled World Values Survey data from Waves 5–7 (2005–2022) for ten Arab countries, this article examines how a multidimensional measure of Muslim religiosity relates to three families of attitudes: market values, work norms, and legality/corruption. Using country–wave fixed effects and extensive socio-demographic controls, the analysis shows that higher religiosity is not associated with stronger support for income equality but is robustly linked to more market-friendly views regarding individual responsibility, private ownership, competition, and positive-sum wealth creation. Religiosity is also associated with a strong Islamic work ethic and moral duty to work, alongside skepticism that hard work is rewarded in practice, and consistently lower tolerance for illegal and corrupt acts. These findings challenge communitarian readings of “Islamic economics” and suggest that religious Arab publics combine pro-market and pro-work orientations with critical views of institutional fairness.
Research Fellows
Moamen Gouda
Professor of Economics, Graduate School of International...