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Moralizing gods and armed conflict

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  • Skali, Ahmed

Abstract

This study documents a robust empirical pattern between moralizing gods, which prescribe fixed laws of morality, and conflict prevalence and fatalities, using spatially referenced data for Africa on contemporary conflicts and ancestral belief systems of individual ethnic groups prior to European contact. Moralizing gods are found to significantly increase conflict prevalence and casualties at the local level. The identification strategy draws on the evolutionary psychology roots of moralizing gods as a solution to the collective action problem in pre-modern societies. A one standard deviation increase in the likelihood of emergence of a moralizing god increases casualties by 18–36% and conflict prevalence by 4–8% approximately.

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  • Skali, Ahmed, 2017. "Moralizing gods and armed conflict," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 184-198.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:63:y:2017:i:c:p:184-198
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2017.01.009
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    2. Jetter, Michael & Mahmood, Rafat & Parmeter, Christopher F. & Ramirez Hassan, Andres, 2020. "Explaining Post-Cold-War Civil Conflict among 17 Billion Models: The Importance of History and Religion," IZA Discussion Papers 13511, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Voigt, Stefan, 2022. "Determinant of Social Norms," ILE Working Paper Series 58, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics.
    4. Luke Barber & Michael Jetter & Tim Krieger, 2023. "Foreshadowing Mars: Religiosity and Pre-Enlightenment Warfare," CESifo Working Paper Series 10806, CESifo.
    5. Jetter, Michael & Mahmood, Rafat & Parmeter, Christopher F. & Ramírez-Hassan, Andrés, 2022. "Post-Cold War civil conflict and the role of history and religion: A stochastic search variable selection approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Conflict; Commitment problem; Religion; Africa; Cooperation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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