Religion and Social Cooperation: Results from an Experiment in Ghana

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Disclaimer and Acknowledgements

This paper need not reflect the views of the World Bank, its Executive Director, or the countries they represent. We thank Garance Genicot, George Osei-Bimpeh, Jorn Sonderholm and seminar participants at Georgetown University and the World Bank for their valuable suggestions. The team of the Abibimman Foundation in Ghana assisted us during the experiments.

Notes

1. Social cooperation is relevant across the 17 SDGs, but is highlighted in Goal 16 (Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels) and Goal 17 (Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development)

2. As noted by Jönsson (2009), Ghana has experienced relatively low levels of conflict (ethnic or religious) since 1980 despite its diverse population. The Pito War (1981) and the Guinea Fowl War (1994–1995), both inter-ethnic and in the northern regions, were the only episodes of violence and they tended to be localized.

3. Only six participants reported practicing a religion different from Christianity and Islam, these were excluded from the sample.

4. We included interaction terms in our estimations and differences in education levels do not explain the differences in behavior before and after priming, so that this small difference in the characteristics of the two samples does not affect our results.

5. This is not very different from experiments where participants were told that their partners are humans, when in fact they were computers. Examples include Weimann (1994), Blount (1995), and Winter and Zamir (2005).

6. In total, 167 participants played the role of investors and 190 played the role of trustees.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Juan Carlos Parra

Juan Carlos Parra is an Economist in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice at the World Bank. His research covers issues of poverty, social protection, and social cooperation. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Georgetown University.

George Joseph

George Joseph is a Senior Economist in the Water Global Practice at the World Bank. His research interests include behavioral and applied micro economics and development. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA.

Quentin Wodon

Quentin Wodon is a Lead Economist in the Education Global Practice at the World Bank where he leads global programs on equity and inclusion in education, child marriage, and out of school children, as well as country work. Previously, he managed the Bank’s unit working on faith and development, served as Lead Poverty Specialist for West and Central Africa, and as Economist/Senior Economist in the Latin American region. He holds graduate degrees in business engineering, economics, and philosophy, and Ph.Ds. in Economics and in Theology and Religious Studies.