The Library
Education and religious participation : city-level evidence from Germany’s secularization period 1890–1930
Tools
Becker, Sascha O., Nagler, Markus and Woessmann, Ludger (2017) Education and religious participation : city-level evidence from Germany’s secularization period 1890–1930. Journal of Economic Growth, 22 (3). pp. 273-311. doi:10.1007/s10887-017-9142-2 ISSN 1381-4338.
|
PDF
WRAP-education-religious-participation-city-level-evidence-Becker-2017.pdf - Published Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (1264Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10887-017-9142-2
Abstract
Why did substantial parts of Europe abandon the institutionalized churches around 1900? Empirical studies using modern data mostly contradict the traditional view that education was a leading source of the seismic social phenomenon of secularization. We construct a unique panel dataset of advanced-school enrollment and Protestant church attendance in German cities between 1890 and 1930. Our cross-sectional estimates replicate a positive association. By contrast, in panel models where fixed effects account for time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity, education—but not income or urbanization—is negatively related to church attendance. In panel models with lagged explanatory variables, educational expansion precedes reduced church attendance, while the reverse is not true. Dynamic panel models with lagged dependent variables and instrumental-variable models using variation in school supply confirm the results. The pattern of results across school types is most consistent with a mechanism of increased critical thinking in general rather than specific knowledge of natural sciences.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory |
||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics | ||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Secularization -- Germany -- History -- 19th century, Secularization -- Germany -- History -- 20th century, Church and state -- Germany -- History -- 19th century, Church and state -- Germany -- History -- 20th century, Church attendance -- Germany -- History -- 19th century, Church attendance -- Germany -- History -- 20th century, Education -- Germany -- History -- 19th century, Education -- Germany -- History -- 20th century | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Journal of Economic Growth | ||||||
Publisher: | Springer | ||||||
ISSN: | 1381-4338 | ||||||
Official Date: | September 2017 | ||||||
Dates: |
|
||||||
Volume: | 22 | ||||||
Number: | 3 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 273-311 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1007/s10887-017-9142-2 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 15 December 2017 | ||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 18 December 2017 | ||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
|
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year