Food Abstention, Religious Observance & Prosocial Behavior: Evidence from Ramadan
Food Abstention, Religious Observance & Prosocial Behavior: Evidence from Ramadan
Does food intake affect prosocial behavior? Extant knowledge suggests that food intake increases prosocial behavior. But this may not be universally true, especially when religious fasting holidays are concerned. We investigate experimentally the impact of religious fasting in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan on prosocial behavior. Our sample consists of male factory workers in a manufacturing facility in Iran. Each worker is asked to allocate an amount of money between himself and a stranger. Strikingly, the effect of food intake is reversed during the holy month of Ramadan. Workers who are in the midst of their Ramadan fast are far more generous to recipients than workers who have had their evening meal, and more generous than fasting and non-fasting workers outside Ramadan. Interestingly, workers who have had their evening meal during Ramadan are statistically indistinguishable from non-fasting workers outside of Ramadan. Our findings suggest that it is the interaction of food abstention with the ritual of fasting and religious observance that amplifies prosocial behavior.
University of Southampton
Haruvy, Ernan
ce3fb198-1247-4294-95f3-493cc1a2658f
Ioannou, Christos A.
753c2afb-918b-4576-ba47-da42502f37c9
Golshirazi, Farnoush
f80857c7-93fc-4a8b-91a0-1c52b62acfef
5 September 2015
Haruvy, Ernan
ce3fb198-1247-4294-95f3-493cc1a2658f
Ioannou, Christos A.
753c2afb-918b-4576-ba47-da42502f37c9
Golshirazi, Farnoush
f80857c7-93fc-4a8b-91a0-1c52b62acfef
Haruvy, Ernan, Ioannou, Christos A. and Golshirazi, Farnoush
(2015)
Food Abstention, Religious Observance & Prosocial Behavior: Evidence from Ramadan
(Discussion Papers in Economics and Econometrics, 1507)
University of Southampton
10pp.
Record type:
Monograph
(Discussion Paper)
Abstract
Does food intake affect prosocial behavior? Extant knowledge suggests that food intake increases prosocial behavior. But this may not be universally true, especially when religious fasting holidays are concerned. We investigate experimentally the impact of religious fasting in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan on prosocial behavior. Our sample consists of male factory workers in a manufacturing facility in Iran. Each worker is asked to allocate an amount of money between himself and a stranger. Strikingly, the effect of food intake is reversed during the holy month of Ramadan. Workers who are in the midst of their Ramadan fast are far more generous to recipients than workers who have had their evening meal, and more generous than fasting and non-fasting workers outside Ramadan. Interestingly, workers who have had their evening meal during Ramadan are statistically indistinguishable from non-fasting workers outside of Ramadan. Our findings suggest that it is the interaction of food abstention with the ritual of fasting and religious observance that amplifies prosocial behavior.
Text
1507 combined
- Version of Record
More information
Published date: 5 September 2015
Organisations:
Economics
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 381781
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/381781
ISSN: 0966-4246
PURE UUID: 14f0b975-9988-435b-84be-ecaabf8d4af6
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 09 Oct 2015 11:47
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 21:20
Export record
Contributors
Author:
Ernan Haruvy
Author:
Christos A. Ioannou
Author:
Farnoush Golshirazi
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics