How fundamentalism takes root: A simulation study

Arbeitspapier

We report agent-based simulations of religiosity dynamics in a spatially dispersed population. Agents' religiosity responds to neighbors via pairwise interactions as well as via club goods effects. A simulation run is deemed fundamentalist if the final distribution contains a sizable minority of very high religiosity together with a majority of lesser religiosity. Such simulations are more prevalent when parameter values shift from values reflecting traditional societies towards values reflecting the modern world. The simulations suggest that the rise of fundamentalism in the modern world is boosted by greater real income, lower relative prices for secular goods, less substitutability between religious and secular goods, and less time spent with neighbors. Surprisingly, the simulations suggest little role for the rise of long distance communication and transportation.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Paper ; No. 737

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Cultural Economics: Religion ; Analysis of Collective Decision-Making: Other ; Network Formation and Analysis: Theory ; Publicly Provided Goods: Other
• Subject: fundamentalism ; club goods ; agent-based models

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Friedman, Daniel ; Fan, Jijian ; Gair, Jonathan ; Iyer, Sriya ; Redlicki, Bartosz ; Velu, Chander
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): University of California, Economics Department
• (where): Santa Cruz, CA
• (when): 2016

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/197763
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET