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Religion as Social Insurance: Evidence From the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927

Author

Listed:
  • Philipp Ager
  • Casper Worm Hansen
  • Ezra Karger
  • Lars Lønstrup

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 on religious participation. We find a sharp increase in church membership in flooded areas that persists into modern times. This increase is more pronounced in conservative churches that provided more social insurance to members and had larger social costs to join. Access to alternative forms of insurance reduced the flood’s impact on the uptake of church membership, consistent with religious organizations acting as social insurance providers. The flood did not affect families’ likelihood of choosing religious names for their children: a more costly measure of religious belief.

Suggested Citation

  • Philipp Ager & Casper Worm Hansen & Ezra Karger & Lars Lønstrup, 2024. "Religion as Social Insurance: Evidence From the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2024_603, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2024_603
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    File URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp603
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Conservative religion; Informal Insurance; Club Goods; Economic Hardship;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion
    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General

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