This paper shows the causal relationship between mutual religious association and the formation of social ties. We analyze dyadic relationships and show that joint attendance at a religious institution (RI) increases the probability of sharing information with and trusting a peer. We use a novel spatial instrumental variable strategy that combines insights from homestead inheritance institutions with triangular distances between peers and RI locations within villages in Kenya. We find that shared attendance at a RI increases the likelihood of receiving advice from a peer by 30 percentage points, demonstrating the strong impact of “weak ties” formed through social spaces.

中文翻译：

---

在教堂聊天：通过宗教网络传播信息

本文展示了相互宗教联系与社会纽带形成之间的因果关系。我们分析了二元关系，并表明共同出席宗教机构 (RI) 会增加与同龄人共享信息并信任同龄人的可能性。我们使用了一种新颖的空间工具变量策略，该策略将宅基地继承机构的见解与肯尼亚村庄内同龄人和 RI 位置之间的三角形距离相结合。我们发现，共同出席 RI 使从同伴那里获得建议的可能性增加了 30 个百分点，这表明通过社交空间形成的“弱关系”的强大影响。