Norms, values and the effect of churches on an excluded community: The case of the Roma in Eastern Europe

The history of the Roma in Europe is the history of an underclass. The Roma have been in abject poverty, socially excluded, and in some areas enslaved since immigrating to Europe from India in the early 12th century AD. This thesis investigates the present socio-economic situation of the Roma vis-a-vis their Non-Roma neighbors and the deficient social capital that are currently trapping the Roma in poverty. It proposes a social-psychological model of norm adaptation in which, given discrimination and exclusion, the Roma may rationally adopt norms that give low lifetime economic returns. It then expands the model to explore how a potentially unorthodox solution of churches and mosques may affect norm adoption and therefore economic outcomes positively or negatively.;Using econometric methods and data from the UNDP/World Bank/EU Regional Roma Survey 2011 of 12 Eastern European countries, the reduced form effect of churchgoing on education is tested---believing the institutions' effect ultimately arise from their effect on norms and networks. Two complementary methods are applied; a unique instrumental variable (IV) methodology based on the variation in historical government religious restrictions across this region, and a spatial regression discontinuity (SRD) design across groups of Roma and Non-Roma lying in country-border regions. The analysis produces a robust result: increases in churchgoing of parents significantly increases education rates of Roma children. According to IV regressions, children of Roma parents who attend church or mosque at least once a month have an expected educational completion rate 50% higher than that of children of Roma parents who do not. The SRD regressions show an increase of at least 2½ years of education on average for a child whose parents attend church or mosque at least once a month. This points to the positive effect of churches and mosques on the Roma---believing it ultimately comes through its effect on norms and networks, and offers a potent partner to finally alleviating poverty among the Roma and other similar excluded groups.