Can Religion Save Our Health?: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the U.S.

Can Religion Save Our Health?: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the U.S.

There is a large amount of empirical literature reporting that people who regularly attend religious services tend to have better health outcomes. However, it remains an unanswered question as to whether the observed correlation reflects any causality. Exploiting exogenous changes in church attendan...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: PARK, YOON SOO
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Korea Development Institute 2018-02-01
Series:KDI Journal of Economic Policy
Subjects:
U.S.
Religious Participation
Subjective Health
Blue Law
Causal Inference
Instrumental Variable
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.23895/kdijep.2018.40.1.31
Description
Summary:There is a large amount of empirical literature reporting that people who regularly attend religious services tend to have better health outcomes. However, it remains an unanswered question as to whether the observed correlation reflects any causality. Exploiting exogenous changes in church attendance driven by law changes in 21 states of the U.S., I find tentative but suggestive evidence that the observed strong correlation between religious participation and health is likely to be driven by endogenous selection.
ISSN:2586-2995
2586-4130

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