After the Farm Crisis: Religiosity in the Rural United States

Wafa Orman

No 7511, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The farm crisis in the United States in the 1980s had profound effects on rural, agricultural regions of the country, but almost no impact on urban and suburban areas. I use a difference-in-difference methodology and find that religiosity as measured by religious attendance increased significantly in areas impacted by the crisis for those who worked in agriculture. Chen (2010) describes increased religiosity in Indonesia following the 1998 financial crisis, and this paper demonstrates a similar response to severe financial distress in the United States. I also find evidence that this increase is not due to a lower opportunity cost of time, as those who are currently employed have higher levels of attendance than those who are not. I hypothesize that the increased religiosity results from religious institutions' ability to provide public goods, both financial and emotional, in the form of community support.

Keywords: farm crisis; financial distress; religious attendance; religiosity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J22 Q12 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2013-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-sea
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Published - published as 'Religiosity and Financial Crises in the United States' in: Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion, 2019, 58 (1), 20-46

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