Working Paper: NBER ID: w11576
Authors: Rajeev Dehejia; Thomas Deleire; Erzo FP Luttmer
Abstract: This paper examines whether involvement with religious organizations insures an individual's stream of consumption and of happiness. Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX), we examine whether households who contribute to a religious organization are able to insure their consumption stream against income shocks and find strong insurance effects for whites. Using the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), we examine whether individuals who attend religious services are able to insure their stream of happiness against income shocks and find strong happiness insurance effects for blacks but smaller effects for whites. Overall, our results are consistent with the view that religion provides an alternative form of insurance for both whites and blacks though the mechanism by which religious organizations provide insurance to each of these groups appears to be different.
Keywords: religious organizations; insurance; happiness; income shocks
JEL Codes: D12; H31; J60; Z12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| religious participation (Z12) | consumption sensitivity to income fluctuations (D12) |
| religious participation (Z12) | happiness insurance (G52) |
| regular attendance at religious services (Z12) | happiness insurance (G52) |
| religious participation (Z12) | consumption insurance (G52) |
| income changes (D31) | consumption sensitivity to income fluctuations (D12) |
| income changes (D31) | happiness insurance (G52) |