Data & Resources | Eduard van der Merwe

Data from My Research

Preaching Against the Choir: Religious Leaders and Reproductive Norms in Kenya

Job Market Paper · 2026

Original survey of 635 women, 17 religious leaders, and 4 focus groups in Maua, Meru County, Kenya (2026)
Kenya Demographic and Health Survey: 2003, 2008, 2014, and 2022 waves
Confidential program records from CHAK and CCIH identifying the 21 health facilities that were involved in faith-based family planning advocacy
Kenya Master Health Facility Register: all registered health facilities, with facility type and church affiliation
Afrobarometer: Kenya, waves 2–8 (2003–2021)
World Values Survey: Kenya (2021)
IPUMS International: 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census
Spatial data: OpenStreetMap places of worship, AidData GeoQuery, and geoBoundaries administrative boundaries

Paper Fieldwork Replication Package: Coming Soon

Heritage of Hunger: Ethnicity, Resource Allocation, and Child Poverty

Submitted to Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization · 2026

World Bank LSMS: Ethiopia (2018/19), Ghana (2016/17), Malawi (2019/20), Nigeria (2018/19), Uganda (2019/20)
Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock, 1967)
Ancestral Characteristics of Modern Populations (Giuliano & Nunn, 2018)
geoBoundaries administrative boundaries

Paper Replication Package: Coming Soon

Climate Change and Child Malnutrition: A Nigerian Perspective

Published · Food Policy · 2022

Climate: CRU TS 4.03
Nigeria LSMS: Wave 1 (2010/11), Wave 2 (2012/13), Wave 3 (2015/16)

Paper

Government Religious Preference and Intrastate Conflict

Working Paper · Economic Research Southern Africa · 2021

Conflict: UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset 20.1
Government religious preference: ARDA, GRP 2.0 Composite
Other: World Bank WDI, Polity IV Project

Paper

Tutorials

Introduction to R

Video Series

A step-by-step video series for incoming students and researchers, created while I was a research assistant at the University of Pretoria.

Watch the Series

Recommended Data Sources

Religion, Culture & Norms

ARDAFree archive of survey and cross-national data on religion
World Religion DatabaseReligious demographics for every country (subscription)
Religion and the StateGovernment involvement in religion across countries since 1990
Ethnographic AtlasPre-industrial cultural practices of about 1,300 societies
Ancestral Characteristics of Modern PopulationsLinks Ethnographic Atlas traits to today's populations (Giuliano & Nunn, 2018)
Seshat: Global History DatabankCoded data on the social complexity and religion of past societies
World Values SurveyValues and beliefs across more than 100 countries since 1981
AfrobarometerPublic attitude surveys across more than 30 African countries

Poverty & Inequality

World Bank PIPGlobal poverty and inequality estimates
World Bank LSMSHousehold surveys on consumption, agriculture, and health
DHS ProgramHealth, nutrition, and fertility surveys in more than 90 countries
World Development IndicatorsDevelopment indicators for more than 200 economies
IPUMS InternationalHarmonized census microdata from more than 100 countries

Climate & Conflict

UCDPGeoreferenced data on organized violence since 1989
ACLEDEvent data on political violence and protest
CRU TSMonthly gridded temperature and precipitation since 1901
CHIRPSHigh-resolution rainfall estimates since 1981
Polity5Regime authority scores for countries since 1800

Maps & Spatial Data

geoBoundariesOpen administrative boundaries for every country
GADMAdministrative areas at several levels for all countries
DHS Spatial DataSubnational boundaries and mapped DHS indicators
AidDataGeocoded aid and development finance projects, with GeoQuery for extracting data by administrative area

Reading & Communities

Development Economics

IDEAInternational Development Economics Association
The Economics of PovertyHistory, measurement, and policy (Ravallion, 2016)
Handbook of Development EconomicsSurveys of the field by leading researchers
VoxDevResearch summaries and podcasts on development economics
NBER Development EconomicsWorking papers from the NBER development program
J-PALRandomized evaluations of anti-poverty programs

Economics of Religion & Culture

Introduction to the Economics of ReligionThe survey that launched the modern field (Iannaccone, 1998)
The New Economics of ReligionReview of the economics of religion (Iyer, 2016)
Culture and InstitutionsAn entry point to culture and institutions (Alesina & Giuliano, 2015)
ASRECAssociation for the Study of Religion, Economics & Culture
IRESInstitute for the Study of Religion, Economics & Society (Chapman University)

The datasets listed here belong to their creators, so please cite the original sources. When data from my own projects become available, please also cite the relevant paper. If a link no longer works, or you know a resource that belongs here, I would be glad to hear from you.