Pedro C. Vicente
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, NOVAFRICA, and BREAD
Inês Vilela
Royal Holloway – University of London, and NOVAFRICA
ISSN 2183-0843
Working Paper No 2008
September 2020
Abstract
Violence perpetrated by radicalized Muslims is a major problem around the world. We collaborated with the main Islamic authority in Mozambique, which sponsored two randomized interventions to prevent violence related to youth radicalization: a religious campaign against extremist views of Islam, targeting change in beliefs; and a training module on entrepreneurship and employment, aiming to increase the opportunity cost of conflict. Our measurement focuses on anti-social behavior in a Joy-of-destruction lab game. We find that only the religious treatment decreased the propensity to destroy payoffs of others. Consistently, surveys show increased trust in state and decreased support for extremism.
