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Betting on the Lord: Lotteries and Religiosity in Haiti

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  • Auriol, Emmanuelle
  • Delissaint, Diego
  • Fourati, Maleke
  • Miquel-Florensa, Josepa
  • Seabright, Paul

Abstract

We conducted an experimental study in Haiti testing for the relationship between religious belief and individual risk taking behavior. 774 subjects played lotteries in a standard neutral protocol and subsequently with reduced endowments but in the presence of religious images of Catholic, Protestant and Voodoo tradition. Subjects chose between paying to play a lottery with an image of their choice, and saving their money to play with no image. Those who chose the former are dened as image buyers and those who chose the latter as non-buyers. Image buyers, who tend to be less educated, more rural, and to exhibit greater religiosity, bet more than non-buyers in all games. In addition, in the presence of religious images all participants took more risk, and buyer took more risk when playing in the presence of their chosen images than when playing with other images. We develop a theoretical model calibrated with our experimental data to explore the channels through which religious images might aect risk-taking. Our results suggest that the presence of images tends to increase individuals' subjective probability of winning the lottery, and that subjects therefore believe in a god who intervenes actively in the world in response to their requests.

Suggested Citation

  • Auriol, Emmanuelle & Delissaint, Diego & Fourati, Maleke & Miquel-Florensa, Josepa & Seabright, Paul, 2019. "Betting on the Lord: Lotteries and Religiosity in Haiti," TSE Working Papers 19-1053, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    • Handle: RePEc:tse:wpaper:123740
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    1. Emmanuelle Auriol & Diego Delissaint & Maleke Fourati & Josepa Miquel‐Florensa & Paul Seabright, 2021. "Trust in the image of God: Links between religiosity and reciprocity in Haiti," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(1), pages 3-34, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Risk preferences; Religion; Field Experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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