The Effect of Economic Shocks on Religious Freedom Violations: Evidence from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Sudan

Abstract

In this paper, I estimate the causal effect of economic shocks on religious freedom violations in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Sudan, using a difference-in-differences empirical strategy. Controlling for country and year effects, the timing of local conflicts and genocide, and other economic, health, and population factors; a one standard deviation increase in GDP per capita annual change caused a 0.16–0.20 standard deviation decrease in freedom of religion or belief violations in these countries between the years 1999–2020.