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

Philipp Ager, Casper Hansen, Ezra Karger () and Lars Lønstrup ()

CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series from University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany

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.

Keywords: Conservative religion, Informal Insurance; Club Goods; Economic Hardship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D70 H40 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 57
Date: 2024-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2024_603

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