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God insures those who pay? Formal insurance and religious offerings in Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Emmanuelle Auriol

    (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Julie Lassébie
  • Amma Panin
  • Eva Raiber

    (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Paul Seabright

    (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

This paper provides experimental support for the hypothesis that insurance can be a motive for religious donations. We randomize enrollment of members of a Pentecostal church in Ghana into a commercial funeral insurance policy. Then church members allocate money between themselves and a set of religious goods in a series of dictator games with significant stakes. Members enrolled in insurance give significantly less money to their own church compared to members that only receive information about the insurance. Enrollment also reduces giving towards other spiritual goods. We set up a model exploring different channels of religiously based insurance. The implications of the model and the results from the dictator games suggest that adherents perceive the church as a source of insurance and that this insurance is derived from beliefs in an interventionist God. Survey results suggest that material insurance from the church community is also important and we hypothesize that these two insurance channels exist in parallel.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuelle Auriol & Julie Lassébie & Amma Panin & Eva Raiber & Paul Seabright, 2020. "God insures those who pay? Formal insurance and religious offerings in Ghana," Post-Print hal-02872179, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02872179
    DOI: 10.1093/qje/qjaa015
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    Cited by:

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    2. Eva Raiber & Paul Seabright, 2020. "U.S. Churches' Response to Covid-19: Results from Facebook," Working Papers halshs-03079776, HAL.
    3. David K Evans & Katrina Kosec, 2023. "Cash Transfers, Trust, and Inter-household Transfers: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 37(2), pages 221-234.
    4. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Delissaint, Diego & Fourati, Maleke & Miquel-Florensa, Josepa & Seabright, Paul, 2021. "Betting on the lord: Lotteries and religiosity in Haiti," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    5. Hasan, Iftekhar & Manfredonia, Stefano & Noth, Felix, 2021. "Cultural resilience, religion, and economic recovery: Evidence from the 2005 hurricane season," IWH Discussion Papers 9/2021, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    6. Hasan, Iftekhar & Manfredonia, Stefano & Noth, Felix, 2020. "Cultural resilience and economic recovery: Evidence from Hurricane Katrina," IWH Discussion Papers 16/2020, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    7. Henning, Karla & Vollan, Björn & Balafoutas, Loukas, 2022. "Religious worship and discrimination," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 91-102.
    8. Sascha O. Becker & Jared Rubin & Ludger Woessmann, 2023. "Religion and Growth," Monash Economics Working Papers 2023-15, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    9. Bahal, Girish & Iyer, Sriya & Shastry, Kishen & Shrivastava, Anand, 2023. "Religion, Covid-19 and mental health," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    10. Bittschi, Benjamin & Dwenger, Nadja & Rincke, Johannes, 2021. "Water the flowers you want to grow? Evidence on private recognition and donor loyalty," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    11. Heath Milsom, Luke, 2023. "Spatial inequality of opportunity in West Africa," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    12. Panin, Amma, 2021. "Four reasons why analysis of economic policy and religion go hand-in-hand in sub-Saharan Africa," PEGNet Policy Briefs 23/2020, PEGNet - Poverty Reduction, Equity and Growth Network, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    13. Iyer, Sriya & Cavalcanti, Tiago & Rauh, Christopher & Roerig, Christian & ,, 2022. "A City of God: Afterlife Beliefs and Job Support in Brazil," CEPR Discussion Papers 17719, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Raphael Corbi & Fabio Miessi Sanches, 2022. "Church Competition, Religious Subsidies and the Rise of Evangelicalism: a Dynamic Structural Analysis," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2022_09, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    15. 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.
    16. Adena, Maja & Hakimov, Rustamdjan & Huck, Steffen, 2020. "Charitable giving by the poor: A field experiment in Kyrgyzstan," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economics of Change SP II 2019-305r, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, revised 2020.
    17. Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph & Boso, Nathaniel & Kutsoati, James Kofi, 2022. "Institutionalization of protection for intangible assets: Insights from the counterfeit and pirated goods trade in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(2).
    18. Sandra Pellet & Marine De Talancé, 2023. "Labor Migrants at Risk: Formal and Informal Insurance Strategies among Central Asians in Moscow [Migrantes laborales en riesgo: estrategias de seguro formales e informales entre los centroasiáticos," Post-Print hal-04261417, HAL.
    19. Raphael Corbi & Fabio Miessi Sanches, 2022. "What Drives Religiosity in America? Evidence from an Empirical Hotelling Model of Church Competition," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2022_08, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    20. Linda Thunström & Shiri Noy, 2022. "What we think prayers do: Americans’ expectations and valuation of intercessory prayer," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(3), pages 1-13, March.
    21. Li, Jiajia & Li, Houjian, 2022. "Spiritual support or living support: Which alleviates solid fuel use for rural households in ethnical minority regions of China?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 479-491.
    22. Jan Engelmann & Maël Lebreton & Peter Schwardmann & Joël van der Weele & Li-Ang Chang, 2019. "Anticipatory Anxiety and Wishful Thinking," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 19-042/I, Tinbergen Institute.
    23. Linda Thunström, 2020. "Thoughts and prayers – Do they crowd out charity donations?," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 1-28, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Charitable giving; Informal insurance; Economics of religion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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