Mamta Bhardwaj

Mamta Bhardwaj
Christ University, Bengaluru

Paper Title “Economic Underpinnings of Religious Giving”

Abstract

Most religious teachings encourage philanthropic behaviour and by virtue of the same propel religious giving by individuals. Among Hindus, giving in general referred to as ‘dana’ is supposed to be done as part of religious duty without any reciprocal expectation. Thus, ‘dana’ should ideally involve purely altruistic motivations. However, the question remains whether altruism in its true sense is possible. The neo-classical school of economics emphasizes on the ‘rational actor model’ in which every human action is governed by expectation of a return and a clear calculation of associated costs. The heterodox approaches in economics take into account the emotional, cognitive, social, psychological and institutional factors in explaining decision making by individuals. This paper is a modest attempt to understand the intrinsic motivations of individuals in offering pecuniary contributions to temples. The pertinent question addressed is whether pecuniary giving to religious institutions such as temples is guided by the interest to serve others in society or with an expectation of a gain or could it be both at the same time. In other words, is it possible to have a strict compartmentalisation of motives under egoism and altruism? Or is it equally possible that individuals while expecting greater blessings, honour or status also identify with the larger social purpose or cause that the religious institution associates itself with.  What would be the role of demographic factors like age, education and income on the incidence and amounts of giving? Does behaviour in the form of frequency of attendance, force of habits or emulation have a role to play? Through the questions raised above, we attempt to understand the socio-economic underpinnings of religious giving, a non-market behaviour. Data would be collected through primary sources from 50 devotees from various temple premises. A purposive sampling design would be followed to ensure an adequate representation of respondents across gender and age categories. 

Mamta Bhardwaj is currently pursuing her post-graduate degree in MA Applied Economics at Christ University, Bangalore. She worked for Northern Trust as a fund accountant.