Abstract
In recent years, academic and policy research has placed increasing focus on the study of the attitudes of the Muslim poor towards Islamic and non-Islamic (micro-)finance to inform financial inclusion strategies. Survey questions are a common way to measure these attitudes and have been included into large-scale surveys such as the Global Findex. However, survey-based measures that ask about non-Islamic finance in an Islamic context may be affected by social desirability bias. In this paper, we propose a possible solution to this issue. We conduct the first list experiment designed to measure attitudes towards the usage of non-Islamic financial products and services, with 2,145 poor Muslims from Multan, Pakistan. Our list experiment uncovers that 37 percent of our sample use non-Islamic finance, almost twice as many as respond affirmatively to a similar direct survey question. Using our rich survey data on demographics, socio-economic factors and religiosity, we are further able to document substantial heterogeneity in the magnitudes of underreporting this usage in the direct survey question and in the usage of non-Islamic finance. We conclude by discussing the significance of our results in terms of (policy) implications and for the measurement of the demand for Islamic finance.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | 100795 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance |
Volume | 38 |
Early online date | 8-Mar-2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jun-2023 |
Keywords
- List experiment
- Islamic (micro-) finance
- Social desirability bias
- Field experiment
- Pakistan
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Religion, social desirability bias and financial inclusion: Evidence from a list experiment on Islamic (micro-)finance'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Datasets
-
Dataset: Religion, social desirability bias and financial inclusion
Ahmad, S. (Contributor), Lensink, R. (Contributor) & Mueller, A. (Contributor), DataverseNL, 21-Jul-2021
DOI: 10.34894/nxxgpk
Dataset
Prizes
-
Impact Case - Financial Inclusion in Pakistan
Mueller, A. (Recipient) & Ahmad, S. (Recipient), 2024
Prize: Other distinction › Academic