Poverty and Witch Killing
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19603014 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Edward Miguel (0000-0001-6927-709X, University of California, Berkeley, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 72 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1153-1172 |
| Publication date | 2005-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Review of Economic Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-6527 • E-ISSN: 1467-937X |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/0034-6527.00365 |
| OpenAlex | W2161822337 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 121 |
| References cited | 40 |
Existing empirical studies are typically unable to sort out the direction of causality between poverty and violent crime in less developed countries. This study uses local rainfall variation – which is plausibly exogenous and closely related to income – to estimate the impact of negative income shocks on murder in 67 Tanzanian villages across eleven years. Extreme rainfall leads to a large statistically significant increase in the murder of “witches ” – typically elderly women killed by relatives – but not in other types of murders. The results are consistent with a model in which households near subsistence kill (or expel) relatively unproductive elderly household members to safeguard the nutritional status of other members. The theory is bolstered by the fact that most killings take place in low socio-economic status villages during the so-called “hungry season ” of the year, and most victims are from poor households. The results provide novel evidence on the role of poverty as a cause of violent crime
Biology · Development economics · Economics · Political science · Poverty · Witch · Agricultural risk and resilience · Ecology · History · Homelessness and Social Issues · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Law
The economics of abduction marriage
The (possible) Cognitive Naturalness of Witchcraft Beliefs
Building, Burning, and Rebuilding Bridges Anthropological and Historical Approaches to Witchcraft in Tanzania and Beyond
Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe
When State Building Backfires
Kobietobójstwo - kryminologiczna charakterystyka zjawiska
Income Shocks and HIV in Africa
Wage Arrears and Economic Voting in Russia
What Do We Learn from the Weather? The New Climate-Economy Literature
Oil and Conflict
Do Female Officers Improve Law Enforcement Quality? Effects on Crime Reporting and Domestic Violence
Is climate change a driver of armed conflict?
Are Remittances Insurance? Evidence from Rainfall Shocks in the Philippines
Climate, conflict, and social stability
Child Gender and Parental Investments In India
Social and economic impacts of climate
Extreme events and gender-based violence
Women Empowerment and Economic Development
The Social Consequences of Traditional Religion in Contemporary Africa
Religion and Growth
Climate Change and Violent Conflict in East Africa
The Material basis of Cooperation
Magical Practices and the Recruitment of Women into Rebel Groups
Shifting Punishment onto Minorities
Middleman Minorities and Ethnic Violence
The impact of early-life shocks on adult welfare in Brazil
Middleman Minorities and Ethnic Violence
Bad Money? Witchcraft Beliefs and Fairness Views in Kenya
Perceptions on disabilities and illnesses in late Joseon Korea
Análisis del empoderamiento de la mujer a través de índices bursátiles de sostenibilidad
Gender and religion
A mediation analysis of the linkages between climate variability, water insecurity, and interpersonal violence
Land and poverty
The cultural evolution of witchcraft beliefs
Child marriage, climate vulnerability and natural disasters in coastal Bangladesh
Beliefs and the Spiritual World
Witch-Hunting in Assam
The Focus on Poverty in the Most Influential Journals in Economics
Extreme Weather and Complaints
Dead in the Water”
Equal pensions, equal rights
A master of two servants
Understanding and Addressing Femicide in Peacetime Zimbabwe
Analysis of Factors Precipitating Witchcraft Accusationamong the Tiv
Othering and agency erosion of older adults living in extreme poverty in Bangladesh
Reconciling the Irreconcilable? HIV/Aids and the Potential for Middle Ground Between the Traditional and Biomedical Healthcare Sectors in South Africa
Domestic violence and workfare
Women, Weather, and Woes
Resources and Intimate Partner Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa
Universal Pensions for Developing Countries
Murder nature
Land tenure, price shocks, and insurgency
Only women can whisper to gods
Missing women in India
Income shocks and gender gaps in education
Witchcraft beliefs and the erosion of social capital
Dowry deaths
Heat, infant mortality, and adaptation
Ideational diffusion and the great witch hunt in Central Europe
Climate change and victimization risk
Religious Fractionalisation and Crimes in Disaster-Affected Communities
Occult Violence and the Savage Slot
Push and Pull
International Migration, Human Capital, and Entrepreneurship
Gender Equality, Climate Action, and Technological Innovation for Sustainable Development in Africa
Learning (or Not) in Health-Seeking Behavior
Crime, Transitory Poverty, and Isolation
Nexus Between Poverty and Superstitious Beliefs among Tribal Communities of Assam
The Regulation of Witchcraft and Sorcery Practices and Beliefs
Superstitions and criminal behavior
Community Psychology and Quality of Life in Tanzania
Empowering witches and the West
The Power of Political Voice
Economic Shocks and Civil Conflict
Climate and Conflict
Poverty and Witch Killing
Extreme Weather Events, Mortality, and Migration
Impact of cultural beliefs on smallholders’ response to climate change
Contextual Declines in Educational Hypergamy and Intimate Partner Violence
Colonial civilizing mission, Indigenous resistance, and witch-hunting in Anvita Dutt’s Bulbbul (2020)
Club Goods and Group Identity
The Economic Origins of Conflict in Africa
Cigarettes for the dead
Queima às bruxas
Resource scarcity and democratic elections in commons dilemmas
Adaptation to climate change
How to mitigate the horrific consequences of witchcraft belief in Africa
Rainfall and intimate partner violence
When does state capacity Work? Social fragmentation and public goods provision in rural Japan
Poverty and crime in 19th century Germany
Witch trials and wages in early-modern Europe
Precision-guided or blunt? The effects of US economic sanctions on human rights
Church politics, sectarianism, and judicial terror
Lynchings, labour, and cotton in the US south
Violence against Rich Ethnic Minorities
Targets of Violence
Jewish Persecutions and Weather Shocks
Stealing to Survive? Crime and Income Shocks in Nineteenth Century France
Witch Trials
Crime et famines. Europe, Afrique, Asie, XIX e et XX e siècles
The role of the aged in primitive society.
Development Economics
A Treatise on the Family
Child Growth in the Time of Drought
GMM estimation with cross sectional dependence
The modernity of witchcraft
A Pure Theory of Underdeveloped Economies
An Inquiry into Well-Being and Destitution
Magical Interpretations, Material Realities
What causes violent crime
Greed and grievance in civil war
Poverty and Witch Killing
Human Development Report 2002
Consumption Smoothing and Excess Female Mortality in Rural India
Rural-Urban Migration in Colombia
Food availability and nutrition in a seasonal perspective
Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe
The Maintenance of Order in Rural Tanzania
Telling Witchcraft Stories
Killing infants and the aged in nonindustrial societies
Crime induced poverty traps
Does rain help the Republicans? Theory and evidence on turnout and the vote
Club Goods and Group Identity
In Sickness and in Health
Crime and Punishment
Swords or Plowshares? A Theory of the Security of Claims to Property
Inequality as a Determinant of Malnutrition and Unemployment
Inequality as a Determinant of Malnutrition and Unemployment
Sungusungu
Evaluating Familial Support for the Elderly
Older widow mortality in rural Bangladesh
Crime, Gender, and Society in India
A Political Analysis of Legal Pluralism in Bolivia and Colombia
Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War
An Epidemic of Witchcraft? The Implications of Aids for the Post-Apartheid State
| Unique citing works | 121 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5,5 |
| Citation span | 2004 - 2026 (23) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 113 |