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To assess the role of religion in economic change at the individual level, PREC will analyze longitudinal survey data from the sub-Saharan nation of Malawi in Africa. The aim with this branch of the Project is to document any associations between religion and rural Malawians’ wealth and investment in the health and education of their children.

The data for this survey are provided by the Malawi Diffusion and Ideational Change Project, funded by the National Institutes of Health. The MDICP contains very detailed questions on religious beliefs, practices, affiliations, as well as many demographic, economic, behavioral, and household items. These data were also conducted in multiple waves (1998, 2001, 2004, and 2006) and therefore permit more precise conclusions regarding the effects of religion on economic change over time.