Religious communities are important providers of social insurance. We show that risk associated with oil dependence facilitated the proliferation of religious communities throughout the U.S. South during the twentieth 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 crowd out effects. Religious communities limit spillovers of oil price shocks across sectors, reducing increases in unemployment following a negative shock by about 30 percent.

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教会作为社会保险：美国南部的石油风险和宗教

宗教团体是社会保险的重要提供者。我们表明，与以下相关的风险石油依赖促进了二十世纪整个美国南部宗教社区的扩散。已知的石油丰富程度预示着教会成员的比例会更高，而这并不是由选择性移民或当地经济发展驱动的。与社会保险渠道一致，油价波动越大，效应越大，而获得信贷、国家级社会保险和私人保险的机会越多，则挤出效应越多。宗教团体限制了油价冲击对各行业的溢出效应，将负面冲击后失业率的上升幅度降低了约 30%。