Replication data for: "Churches as Social Insurance: Oil Risk and Religion in the U.S. South"

This is the replication package for "<span>Churches as Social Insurance: Oil Risk and Religion in the U.S. South". <br><br>Abstract: </span><span>Religious communities are
important providers of social insurance. We show that risk associated with <i>oil
dependence</i> facilitated the proliferation of religious communities
throughout the U.S. South during the 20th century. Known oil abundance predicts
higher rates of church membership, which are not driven by selective migration
or local economic development. Consistent with a social insurance channel,
greater oil price volatility increases effects, while greater access to credit,
state-level social insurance, and private insurance crowds out effects.
Religious communities limit spillovers of oil price shocks across sectors,
reducing increases in unemployment following a negative shock by about 30%.</span>