The impact of bad behavior on the development of muslim countries

Abstract

Many factors affect development. One of which is religion. Many studies find that religion can either promote or hinder development. For Islam, various studies blame Islam for the poor development of Muslim countries, the literature however fails at differentiating between the religion itself and its constituents. This can be attributed to theoretical and methodological shortcomings. An alternative hypothesis is that Muslim countries are underdeveloped not due to Islam, but due to the culpability of individual and institutional behavior. With that said, the purpose of this study is to examine whether behavior can impact development and identify whether Islam or the behavior of its constituents is the culprit for the poor development of Muslim countries. The research methodology involves a bibliometric analysis of Scopus and Web of Science databases to identify whether any existing measures of bad behavior exist within the context of behavior and development; developing a composite measure of the development hindering behavior of individuals and institutions – the Bad Behavior Index (BBI); conducting a System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) regression analysis to test the relationship between various proxies of bad behavior and the Human Development Index (HDI), the proxy for development. The study finds that bad behavior, rather than Islam, is the main culprit for the poor development of Muslim countries. The study highlights the importance of behavior for development, and the need for governments to encourage behavior that promotes development and deter behavior which impedes it. The significance of this study lies in its efforts to address the theoretical and methodological shortcomings of previous literature, and its focus on a new variable, behavior, which it contends is the true culprit for the poor development of Muslim countries. Future research must focus on improving the theoretical framework, use primary and secondary data, and replicate the study using different composite frameworks and methods.