Mara Squicciarini (Alesina Seminar)

See the seminar's full schedule here: Alberto Alesina Seminar on Political Economy

Joint Seminar with Economic History

Today's Speaker

Mara Squicciarini (Bocconi University), "Dealing with Adversity: Religiosity or Science? Evidence from the Great Influenza Pandemic" (Link to paper)

Abstract

How do societies respond to adversity? After a negative shock, separate strands of research have documented either an increase in religiosity or a boost in innovation efforts. In this paper, we show that both reactions can occur simultaneously, driven by different individuals within society. The setting of our study is the Influenza pandemic of 1918-19 in the United States. To measure religiosity, we construct a novel indicator based on naming patterns, and we measure innovation through the universe of granted patents. Exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in exposure to the pandemic, we provide evidence that more affected counties become both more religious and more innovative. Looking within counties, we uncover a heterogeneous response: individuals from more religious backgrounds further embrace religion, while those from less religious ones become more likely to choose a scientific occupation. Facing adversity widens the distance in religiosity between scientific-minded individuals and the rest of the population, and it leads to a polarization of religious beliefs.

Co-sponsored by FAS and IQSS, the Alberto Alesina Seminar on Political Economy supports research-related activities that integrate the study of economics and politics, whether by studying economic behavior in the political process or political behavior in the marketplace. In general, positive political economy is concerned with showing how observed differences among institutions affect political and economic outcomes in various social, economic, and political systems and how the institutions themselves change and develop in response to individual and collective beliefs, preferences, and strategies.

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See the seminar's full schedule at the Alesina Seminar page.

All interested faculty and students are invited to attend.