On the Importance of African Traditional Religion for Economic Behavior

85 Pages Posted: 14 Jul 2023

See all articles by Lewis Dunia Butinda

Lewis Dunia Butinda

Marakuja Kivu Research

Aimable A. Lameke

Marakuja Kivu Research

Nathan Nunn

University of British Columbia (UBC)

Max Posch

University of Exeter

Raul Sanchez de la Sierra

University of Chicago

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: July 10, 2023

Abstract

Within the field of economics, despite being widespread, African traditional religions tend to be perceived as unimportant and ignored when studying economic decision-making. This study tests whether this presumption is correct. Using daily data on business decisions and performance of beer sellers in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, we study the importance of traditional religious beliefs for economic behavior and outcomes. Beer sellers perceive the risk of theft in their shops to be higher than it actually is, causing them to hold lower inventories, more frequent stock-outs, and reduced profits. We facilitate randomly-timed access to commonly-used, but typically prohibitively expensive rituals, which reduce the perceived risk of theft. We find that the rituals partially correct the beliefs about the risk of theft for sellers who report believing in the ritual’s efficacy. These sellers purchase more inventory, experience fewer stock-outs, and have larger sales, revenues, and profits. To distinguish the belief in the efficacy of the ritual from other incidental effects of participation, we analyze these outcomes for sellers who do not believe in the ritual. For these individuals, we find none of the observed effects. The findings provide evidence of the importance of African traditional religions, demonstrating that they can influence behavior and outcomes that are important for economic development.

JEL Classification: L81, O12, Z12, Z13

Suggested Citation

Butinda, Lewis Dunia and Lameke, Aimable A. and Nunn, Nathan and Posch, Max and Sanchez de la Sierra, Raul, On the Importance of African Traditional Religion for Economic Behavior (July 10, 2023). University of Chicago, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics Working Paper No. 2023-96, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4507547 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4507547

Lewis Dunia Butinda

Marakuja Kivu Research ( email )

Aimable A. Lameke

Marakuja Kivu Research ( email )

Goma
Congo, Democratic Republic of the (Zaire)

Nathan Nunn

University of British Columbia (UBC) ( email )

2329 West Mall
Vancouver, British Columbia BC V6T 1Z4
Canada

Max Posch

University of Exeter ( email )

Northcote House
The Queen's Drive
Exeter, EX4 4QJ
United Kingdom

Raul Sanchez de la Sierra (Contact Author)

University of Chicago ( email )

1307 E 60th st
Chicago, IL Illinois 60637
United States
9174889151 (Phone)
60637 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://raulsanchezdelasierra.com

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