Veiling
Jean-Paul Carvalho, Assistant Professor of Economics, UC Irvine
Social identity is modeled as a commitment mechanism, such that a religious identity limits temptation to deviate from religious norms of behavior. Our analysis suggests that veiling among Muslim women is a strategy for integration, enabling women to take up outside economic opportunities while preserving their reputation within the community. This accounts for puzzling features of the new veiling movement since the 1970s. Veiling also has surprising dynamic effects on the formation of religious values. Compulsory veiling can lead to a decline in religiosity. Bans on veiling can inhibit social integration and increase religiosity.
Jean-Paul Carvalho is an Assistant Professor of Economics at UC Irvine. He is an applied game theorist who studies issues of political economy relating to culture, identity and institutions. His graduate training (D.Phil. 2009, M.Phil. 2006) was conducted in the Department of Economics at the University of Oxford, under the supervision of H. Peyton Young. After completing his doctoral thesis, Professor Carvalho was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Teaching Fellow in the Department of Economics at Oxford and an Associate Member of Nuffield College. In 2009-10, he was also a Robert Solow Fellow of the Cournot Centre for Economic Studies in Paris and was a past recipient of the John Monash Scholarship which is presented by the Governor General of Australia.