Randomizing Religion: The Impact of Protestant Evangelism on Economic Outcomes

Dean Karlan, James Choi and Gharad Bryan

No 12810, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We study the causal impact of religiosity through a randomized evaluation of an evangelical Protestant Christian values and theology education program delivered to thousands of ultra-poor Filipino households. Six months after the program ended, treated households have higher religiosity and income; no statistically significant differences in total labor supply, consumption, food security, or life satisfaction; and lower perceived relative economic status. Exploratory analysis suggests that the income treatment effect may operate through increasing grit. Thirty months after the program ended, significant differences in the intensity of religiosity disappear, but those in the treatment group are less likely to be Catholic and more likely to be Protestant, and there is some mixed evidence that their consumption and perceived relative economic status are higher. We conclude that this church-based program may represent a method of increasing noncognitive skills and reducing poverty among adults in developing countries.

Keywords: Religion; Economics; Poverty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 I30 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-03
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP12810 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Journal Article: Randomizing Religion: the Impact of Protestant Evangelism on Economic Outcomes* (2021)
Working Paper: Randomizing religion: the impact of Protestant evangelism on economic outcomes (2021)
Working Paper: Randomizing Religion: The Impact of Protestant Evangelism on Economic Outcomes (2018)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12810

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP12810

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().