Research

2024

1. The Social Consequences of Traditional Religion in Contemporary Africa

   with E. Le Rossignol, and N. Nunn

   + PDF Protocols

   In sub-Saharan Africa, despite the adoption of Christianity, traditional religious beliefs remain widely held. We examine the social consequences of holding traditional religious beliefs among urban and rural populations in central Africa. Using a variety of lab-in-the-field experiments that randomize partner characteristics, we test whether individuals who believe in traditional religion are treated or viewed differently by others. We find that participants act less prosocially towards partners known to hold traditional religious beliefs. We find that this behavior is supported by norms and by negative perceptions and stereotypes of traditional believers. The effects are economically important, ubiquitous, and are amplified by economic development. Individual-level data from across the African continent reveal patterns consistent with our experimental findings. Individuals who believe in witchcraft have lower incomes, and the effect is stronger in countries that are more developed. Our final analysis speaks to the origins of these effects. Within our experimental sample, the negative effects are stronger in rural villages with more historical missionary activity, and across the continent, the negative relationship between belief in witchcraft and income is stronger in regions with more colonial missionary presence. Both findings are consistent with descriptive accounts of Christianity leading to the stigmatization of African traditional religion.

2. Fallow Lengths and the Structure of Property Rights

   with E. Le Rossignol, and E. Montero

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   We study a fundamental institution in many societies: the structure of property rights over land. Across societies, communal land rights have been more common than private land rights. We test the hypothesis that longer fallow requirements – the time needed to leave land uncultivated to restore fertility – led to a higher prevalence of communal property rights. Longer fallow requirements generate higher protection costs and therefore make communal rights more beneficial. We construct an ecological measure of the optimal fallow length for the most suitable staple crop across grid cells based on soil type, temperature, and climate. We find that places where land needs to be fallowed for longer periods are more likely to have communal property rights both historically and presently. We then examine the implications for efforts to title land. We find that World Bank land titling interventions are less effective in places with longer fallow requirements, suggesting a mismatch between development policy and underlying institutions. Finally, we examine implications for income inequality and conflict. We find that longer fallow requirements are associated with less inequality, less conflict, and greater resilience to negative shocks. Our results highlight the origins of property rights structures and how communal property rights interact with development policies.

3. Experimental Evidence on Rural Child Care Provision in the DRC

   with A. Donald, and J. Vaillant

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   Women are often the primary caregivers for children, which may restrict women’s economic activities. Evidence on the benefits of childcare is often from more developed urban settings. We examine how the provision of community-based childcare centers for children aged 2 to 6 in rural areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo affects outcomes for women, their husbands, and children. Using a randomized controlled trial, we find that 73% of households provided with access to the centers use them. This translates into a reduction in the amount of time women spend on childcare. The centers lead to significant increases in women’s engagement in commercial agriculture, plot productivity and monthly income. We find some evidence that these benefits may arise from a decrease in women’s need to multi-task while farming. Additionally, women report an increase in their concentration and sense of control. We also observe changes in men’s economic activities: they are more likely to be engaged in non-agricultural self-employment and experience an increase in income in this sector. Finally, children benefit from attending childcare centers; we find evidence of improvements in early childcare development indicators. Our results underscore the broad welfare benefits of increasing childcare access in low-income rural settings.

2023

1. Cash Transfers and Social Preferences of Children

   with J. Haushofer, M. Larreboure, and L. Mait

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   We study the effects of an unconditional cash transfer program on prosocial preferences of children. The program allocated $1,076 to randomly selected households in rural Kenya. We measure the social preferences of 4,022 children from 1,687 households with survey questions and incentivized behavioral games three years after the intervention. We distinguish between the direct effects on children of recipient households and the spillover effects on children of neighboring households. We do not find consistent evidence that children from treatment and spillover groups are more or less prosocial than children from the control group. Additionally, we find no persistent economic effects of the program. We find some evidence of reduced psychological well-being among adults and children in spillover households.

2022

1. Ancestral Livelihoods and Moral Universalism: Evidence from Transhumant Pastoralism

   with E. Le Rossignol

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   Moral universalism, the extent to which individuals exhibit similar altruism and trust towards in-group and out-group members, varies widely across societies. We test the hypothesis from anthropology that the requirements of transhumant pastoralism – a livelihood in which populations seasonally migrate and herd livestock – made individuals highly interdependent and cohesive within groups but hostile to individuals beyond the radius of extended kin. Using global data, we find that historical reliance on transhumant pastoralism is strongly predictive of greater in-group relative to out-group trust. This result is consistent across countries, between residents of the same country, among second-generation migrants, and with an instrumental variable strategy. We find evidence that these results are specific to transhumant pastoralism. The effects are particularly pronounced when transhumant pastoralists interact with groups that rely on other forms of economic production and in areas that are prone to climate shocks and conflict. Finally, we explore the economic implications of limited moral universalism. We find that greater reliance on transhumant pastoralism is associated with less objective promotion criteria within firms and smaller firm size.

2. Kinship Structure and the Family: Evidence from the Matrilineal Belt

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   Kinship structure varies across societies and may affect incentives for cooperation within the household. A key source of variation in kinship structure is whether lineage and inheritance are traced through women, as in matrilineal kinship systems, or men, as in patrilineal kinship systems. Anthropologists hypothesize that matrilineal kinship benefits women because they have greater support from their kin and husbands have less authority over their wives. However, these factors may reduce cooperation within the nuclear household. I test these hypotheses using a geographic regression discontinuity design along the matrilineal belt, which describes the distribution of matrilineal kinship across sub-Saharan Africa. Using over 50 DHS survey-waves with more than 400,000 respondents, I find that matrilineal women are less likely to believe domestic violence is justified, experience less domestic violence, and have greater autonomy in decision making – particularly in the ability to visit family and seek healthcare. Additionally, matrilineal kinship closes the education gap between male and female children, and matrilineal children experience health benefits. Using original survey and experimental data from couples along the matrilineal belt, I test how matrilineal kinship structure affects spousal cooperation. Matrilineal women contribute less to a public good with a spouse when it is easier to hide income. The results highlight how broader social structures shape women’s empowerment, investment in children, and cooperation in the household.

1. Age Organization and Accountability

   with E. Montero, N. Nunn, and J.A. Robinson
2. Authority and Political Power in the DRC

   with E. Montero, N. Nunn, and J.A. Robinson
3. Digitizing the Ethnographic Survey of Africa: New Data on Pre-Colonial sub-Saharan African Culture and Politics

   with J. Moscona, N. Nunn, and A. Seck
4. Migration and Cultural Change

   with N. Nunn
5. The Dynamic Effects of Conflict on Prosociality: Evidence from the Kamuina Nsapu Insurgency

   with N. Nunn, J.A. Robinson, and J. Weigel
6. The Political Economy of Ethnicity in the DRC

   with A. Bergeron, N. Nunn, J.A. Robinson, and 1 more author
7. Traditional Medicine and Demand for Health Care: Evidence from Mozambique

   with F. Budillon, G. Cumbi, and A. Gray

2024

1. Family Structure and Childcare in Sub-Saharan Africa

   with A. Donald, and J. Vaillant
2. The Slave Trade and the Origins of Matrilineal Kinship

   with N. Nunn

   + Appendix Replication

   Matrilineal kinship systems—where descent is traced through mothers only—are present all over the world but are most concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa. We explore the relationship between exposure to Africa’s external slave trades, during which millions of people were shipped from the continent during a 400-year period, and the evolution of matrilineal kinship. Scholars have hypothesized that matrilineal kinship, which is well-suited to incorporating new members, maintaining lineage continuity and insulating children from the removal of parents (particularly fathers), was an adaptive response to the slave trades. Motivated by this, we test for a connection between the slave trades and matrilineal kinship by combining historical data on an ethnic group’s exposure to the slave trades and the presence of matrilineal kinship following the end of the trades. We find that the slave trades are positively associated with the subsequent presence of matrilineal kinship. The result is robust to a variety of measures of exposure to the slave trades, the inclusion of additional covariates, sensitivity analyses that remove outliers, and an instrumental variables estimator that uses a group’s historical distance from the coast as an instrument. We also find evidence of a complementarity between polygyny and matrilineal kinship, which were both social responses to the disruption of the trades.

2023

1. Stress, Ethnicity, and Prosocial Behavior

   with J. Haushofer, A. Musauo, D. Ndetei, and 3 more authors

   + PDF Replication

   While observational evidence suggests that people behave more prosocially toward members of their own ethnic group, many laboratory studies fail to find this effect. One possible explanation is that coethnic preference only emerges during times of stress. To test this hypothesis, we pharmacologically increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol, after which participants complete laboratory experiments with coethnics and non-coethnics. We find mixed evidence that increased cortisol decreases prosocial behavior. Coethnic preferences do not vary with cortisol. However, in contrast to previous studies, we find strong and robust evidence of coethnic preference.

2021

1. Kinship Structure, Stress, and the Gender Gap in Competition

   + PDF Appendix

   While women generally prefer to compete less than men, cultural practices and physiological responses to competition may affect willingness to compete. I examine how kinship structure and stress affect the gender gap in willingness to compete in a lab experiment among individuals from 27 ethnic groups along the matrilineal belt in Central Africa. I find no evidence that matrilineal kinship relative to patrilineal kinship closes the gender gap in competition: 80% of men and 60% of women choose to compete with no differential effect across kinship systems. Using physiological data, I find that women who experience greater stress during competition are less likely to choose to compete.

2. Concessions, Violence, and Indirect Rule: Evidence from the Congo Free State

   with E. Montero

   + PDF Appendix

   All colonial powers granted concessions to private companies to extract natural resources during the colonial era. Within Africa, these concessions were characterized by indirect rule and violence. We use the arbitrarily defined borders of rubber concessions granted in the north of the Congo Free State to examine the causal effects of this form of economic organization on development. We find that historical exposure to the concessions causes significantly worse education, wealth, and health outcomes. To examine mechanisms, we collect survey and experimental data from individuals near a former concession boundary. We find that village chiefs inside the former concessions provide fewer public goods, are less likely to be elected, and are more likely to be hereditary. However, individuals within the concessions are more trusting, more cohesive, and more supportive of sharing income. The results are relevant for the many places that were designated as concessions to private companies during the colonial era.

3. The Legacy of Colonial Medicine in Central Africa

   with E. Montero

   + PDF Slides Appendix Replication

   Between 1921 and 1956, French colonial governments organized medical campaigns to treat and prevent sleeping sickness. Villagers were forcibly examined and injected with medications with severe, sometimes fatal, side effects. We digitized 30 years of archival records to document the locations of campaign visits at a granular geographic level for five central African countries. We find that greater campaign exposure reduces vaccination rates and trust in medicine, as measured by willingness to consent to a blood test. We examine relevance for present-day health initiatives; World Bank projects in the health sector are less successful in areas with greater exposure.

2019

1. Traditional Medicine in Central Africa

   with E. Montero

   + PDF Replication

   In many settings, traditional medicine is a popular, accessible, and affordable alternative to modern medicine. Understanding the determinants of the use of traditional medicine is important because it is widespread and because of the growing evidence of mistrust in modern medicine. We examine the historical and present day correlates of knowledge and use of traditional medicine in Central Africa. We find that type of colonial contact matters for present day traditional medicine use and that belief in witchcraft predicts more use of traditional medicine. We suggest that traditional healers may play an important role in rebuilding trust in modern medicine.

2. Genetic Legacy of State Centralization in the Kuba Kingdom of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

   with L. Van Dorp, J.L. Weigel, N. Ansari-Pour, and 7 more authors

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   Few phenomena have had as profound or long-lasting consequences in human history as the emergence of large-scale centralized states in the place of smaller scale and more local societies. This study examines a fundamental, and yet unexplored, consequence of state formation: its genetic legacy. We studied the genetic impact of state centralization during the formation of the eminent precolonial Kuba Kingdom of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in the 17th century. We analyzed genome-wide data from over 690 individuals sampled from 27 different ethnic groups from the Kasai Central Province of the DRC. By comparing genetic patterns in the present-day Kuba, whose ancestors were part of the Kuba Kingdom, with those in neighboring non-Kuba groups, we show that the Kuba today are more genetically diverse and more similar to other groups in the region than expected, consistent with the historical unification of distinct subgroups during state centralization. We also found evidence of genetic mixing dating to the time of the Kingdom at its most prominent. Using this unique dataset, we characterize the genetic history of the Kasai Central Province and describe the historic late wave of migrations into the region that contributed to a Bantu-like ancestry component found across large parts of Africa today. Taken together, we show the power of genetics to evidence events of sociopolitical importance and highlight how DNA can be used to better understand the behaviors of both people and institutions in the past.

2017

1. The Evolution of Culture and Institutions: Evidence from the Kuba Kingdom

   with N. Nunn, J.A. Robinson, and J.L. Weigel

   + PDF Protocols Appendix Replication

   We use variation in historical state centralization to examine the long‐term impact of institutions on cultural norms. The Kuba Kingdom, established in Central Africa in the early 17th century by King Shyaam, had more developed state institutions than the other independent villages and chieftaincies in the region. It had an unwritten constitution, separation of political powers, a judicial system with courts and juries, a police force, a military, taxation, and significant public goods provision. Comparing individuals from the Kuba Kingdom to those from just outside the Kingdom, we find that centralized formal institutions are associated with weaker norms of rule following and a greater propensity to cheat for material gain. This finding is consistent with recent models where endogenous investments to inculcate values in children decline when there is an increase in the effectiveness of formal institutions that enforce socially desirable behavior. Consistent with such a mechanism, we find that Kuba parents believe it is less important to teach children values related to rule‐following behaviors.

2015

1. Understanding Ethnic Identity in Africa: Evidence from the Implicit Association Test (IAT)

   with N. Nunn, J.A. Robinson, and J.L. Weigel

   + PDF Protocols Appendix

   We use a variant of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to examine individuals’ implicit attitudes towards various ethnic groups. Using a population from the Democratic Republic of Congo, we find that the IAT measures show evidence of an implicit bias in favor of one’s own ethnicity. Individuals have implicit views of their own ethnic group that are more positive than their implicit views of other ethnic groups. We find this implicit bias to be quantitatively smaller than the (explicit) bias one finds when using self-reported attitudes about different ethnic groups.

2023

1. Culture in Historical Political Economy

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   Culture—the set of socially transmitted values and beliefs held by individuals—has important implications for a wide variety of economic outcomes. The causes and consequences of culture have both been the subject of work in historical political economy (HPE). This chapter first outlines several theories on the origins, evolution, and transmission of culture. It then discusses various strategies for measuring culture. Finally, the chapter reviews recent research in HPE that explores the origins of variation in culture and the economic consequences of culture.

2021

1. Ethnographic and Field Data in Historical Economics

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   This chapter covers recent research in historical economics that uses ethnographic data and data from field surveys and lab experiments. The study of historical economics, particularly outside of non-Western countries, has been constrained by availability of historical data. However, recent work incorporates data and tools from other fields and sub-fields to fill this gap. For example, economists are increasingly taking advantage of ethnographic data sets compiled by anthropologists. There is also growing interest in the use of original survey data collection both within and across countries and lab-in-the-field experiments to answer questions on culture and institutions. Often, these tools are used together to provide complementary evidence on the question of interest. These sources of data have been particularly important for research on areas where there is limited historical data, and they have increased the scope of questions that can be examined. This chapter will overview these recent developments and highlight the benefits of these diverse methodologies and data sources.

2020

1. Kinship Structure & Women: Evidence from Economics

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   Economists are increasingly interested in understanding how culture shapes outcomes for women and the origins of these cultural practices. I review recent work in economics on how culture affects the well-being of women in developing countries, much of which is motivated by work in anthropology. I present evidence on the role of kinship structure, particularly matrilineal relative to patrilineal systems, for shaping women’s preferences, exposure to domestic violence, and the health and education of children. Additionally, I discuss research on the effects of cultural practices, such as bride-price, and how the organization of production affects gender norms. Economists, with a careful focus on causal identification, contribute to the evidence that culture is an important determinant of outcomes for women.

2018

1. Does Bride Price Promote or Hinder Women’s Well-Being?

   with N. Nunn

   + PDF

   Bride price, a payment from the groom to the bride’s family at the time of marriage, is a common cultural practice in many African societies. We examine the relationship between the bride price amount and a range of outcomes using a sample of 317 couples from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Motivated by common concerns associated with high bride price, we examine whether payment of a higher bride price is associated with earlier marriage and higher fertility; a greater acceptance of domestic violence; decreased ability of the wife to leave her husband; lower-quality marriages; and lower levels of happiness for the wife. We find evidence that women for whom a high bride price was paid are less accepting of domestic violence and are happier.

2017

1. King Leopold’s Ghost: The Legacy of Labor Coercion in the DRC

   with E. Montero

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   Sara Lowes and Eduardo Montero summarise their ongoing work on the legacy of forced labour practices and terror focusing on King Leopold’s rule of Congo Free State. The authors compare various development proxies (education, wealth, health) between two different sets of areas: those that were violently ruled via mercenaries employed by private companies that had concessions for rubber, and nearby territories that did not have to produce pre-specified amounts of rubber. Living conditions today are considerably worse in areas where mercenaries were coercing the local population to produce rubber, as compared to neighbouring areas that were not part of Belgian concessions. They also show that traditional leaders (chiefs) are less accountable and of lower quality in regions that suffered a great deal during King Leopold’s rule, suggesting that dysfunctional local institutions may be a source of persistence. Interestingly, however, the authors find a higher level of trust and civicness in the concessionary areas, suggesting that, in this case at least, trust and local institutions are substitutes.