The article the subtitle is “Proof from the Timing of Mexican Saint Day Festivals”, and the authors are Eduardo Montero and Dean Yang. Right here is the excerpt:

Do variations in the way in which non secular holidays are celebrated have financial penalties? We examine the financial impacts of the calendar of Catholic patronal feasts in Mexico. For causal identification, we exploit interlocality variation in competition dates and within the timing of agricultural seasons. We estimate the impression of ‘agriculturally coincident’ festivals (people who coincide with peak planting or harvest months) on the long-term financial improvement of localities. Festivals that coincide with agriculture result in decrease family incomes and poorer improvement outcomes general. These unfavorable results are in all probability because of the decline in agricultural productiveness, which hinders the structural transformation of agriculture. Festivals that coincide with agriculture could however persist as in addition they result in larger religiosity and social capital.

My expertise n=1 in San Agustin Oapan (Guerrero, Mexico) is strongly appropriate with this speculation. One other issue is that probably the most proficient folks within the village are normally chosen to tackle management and ceremonial roles at festivals, costing them some huge cash (they’re anticipated to bear the bills) . It’s exactly these individuals who might begin small companies and undertake different helpful enterprise actions, however who at the moment are cash-strapped.