Why are women more religious than men?

Bryan Caplan points to a fascinating survey by Rodney Stark and Alan Miller on the difference between men and women in their religious beliefs. Two striking facts emerge : (1) across all cultures, women are more religious than men, (2) in the least traditional cultures (i.e. those who approve of single motherhood, have with a high abortion rate, low fertility, and high female labor force participation) the gap between men and women is wider. How can this be explained?

Not So Welcomed Guests

There are around 30,000 guest workers in Mauritius, roughly 6% of the working population. They work mainly in construction and textile. As a country which prides itself on its hospitality to tourists, it shows a starkly different face when it comes to treating foreign workers. With no electoral weight, the plight of these workers attracts little attention from politicians. Trade unions, which are generally weak because of a tough law on industrial dispute (the Industrial Relations Act), have little incentive either, as local workers are resentful of guest workers (who are blamed for working longer hours for lower wages). The Mail and Guardian (South Africa) has an article which shows the extent of the problem. Here are some excerpts:

Self-Discovery

Much of Economics rests on the assumption of a rational individual, who chooses according to his preferences, subject to some constraints. While the notion of rationality is sometimes under scrutiny, preferences and constraints are generally assumed to be known at the time choices are made. In a series of papers, Roland Benabou and Jean Tirole take a different stand: we are rational, but we have imperfect knowledge about ourselves. Some of our actions which may seem irrational, aren’t: they are the product of our imperfect self-knowledge together with our imperfect willpower and imperfect ability to recollect from the past.