Calendrier du 12 janvier 2023
Job Market Seminar
Du 12/01/2023 de 12:00 à 13:15
R2-21
DEOPA Neha (Aix-Marseille School Of Economics)
Sacred Ecology: The Environmental Impact of African Traditional Religions
Do religions codify ecological principles? This paper explores theoretically and empirically the
role religious beliefs play in shaping environmental interactions. I study African Traditional
Religions (ATR) which place forests within a sacred sphere. I build a model of non-market
interactions of the mean-field type where the actions of agents with heterogeneous religious
beliefs continuously affect the spatial density of forest cover. The equilibrium extraction policy
shows how individual beliefs and their distribution among the population can be a key driver
of forest conservation. The model also characterizes the role of resource scarcity in both individual and population extraction decisions. I test the model predictions empirically relying
on the unique case of Benin, where ATR adherence is freely reported. Using an instrumental
variable strategy that exploits the variation in proximity to the Benin-Nigerian border, I find
that a 1 standard deviation increase in ATR adherence has a 0.4 standard deviation positive
impact on forest cover change. I study the impact of historically belonging to the ancient
Kingdom of Dahomey, birthplace of the Vodun religion. Using the original boundaries as a
spatial discontinuity, I find positive evidence of Dahomey affiliation on contemporary forest
change. Lastly, I compare observed forest cover to counterfactual outcomes by simulating the
absence of ATR beliefs across the population.