Wine Consumption and Religions: A Research Note

The relationship between religions around the world and alcohol consumption is a well-known debated issue since many religions forbid it. However, the specific relationship with wine consumption has never been empirically investigated. For some religions, such as the Catholic religion, wine has a specific place. The purpose of this short communication is to analyze how the role of religions could determine the level of wine consumption in a representative panel of countries. A single equation analysis is based on a cross section of 52 countries for the period 2010-2013. The results give more support to the anticipated relationship between wine consumption and religions and demonstrate that wine consumption in a country is impacted by the dominant religion in the country.