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Religion can shape individual preferences and influence health-related decisions. This study examines the relationship between religion and vaccination in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country by investigating the effects of a fatwa, Islamic legal opinion concerning non halal vaccine. We leverage from variation in Islamist influence as proxied by the intensity of Islamic boarding schools (Pesantren) to compare vaccination uptakes before and after the fatwa. We find that children exposed to the fatwa in high Pesantren areas exhibited lower vaccination uptakes. Reduced vaccination rates were associated with higher severe morbidity among these children and a greater likelihood of disease outbreaks in districts with more Pesantren per capita. The evidence points to the strong role of religion in driving vaccine hesitancy, alongside shifts in religious attitudes. These findings highlight the need for public health authorities to consider the role of religion to effectively address vaccine hesitancy.

Rural infrastructure development is central to global poverty reduction efforts since significant share of global extreme poor population resides in rural areas. Improving access to essential services can enhance the well-being of rural population. Community-driven development (CDD) represents a decentralized approach to rural governance that characterizes active community participation in rural development. This study examines the impact of the Village Fund (VF), a large-scale CDD program in Indonesia. Leveraging village census and administrative data, we exploit variation in the program's allocation rules based on village size to estimate the impact of the VF on a range of outcomes. Our results indicate that greater per capita VF spending is associated with significant improvements in village-level access to basic services, including transport infrastructure, health care access, and water, sanitation, and hygiene. We interpret these findings as evidence that investments in village infrastructure function as the primary transmission channel through which the VF influences development outcomes.