Education and Protestant Economic History

As an alternative to Max Weber's thesis that a specific Protestant ethic was responsible for the economic success of Protestants, my research with Sascha Becker suggests a "human capital theory of Protestant economic history": Luther's request that all Christians should be able to read the Bible by themselves triggered a push for education that ultimately also had economic consequences.

Our evidence using Prussian county data from the 19th century that we digitized from the archives suggests that the better education of Protestants can account for most of their economic lead over Catholics. Methodologically, our instrumental-variable model uses that part of the variation in Protestantism that originates from the distance to Luther's city of Wittenberg. The results show that the economic lead of the Protestants is owed less to a specific Protestant work ethics, as propagated by Weber, but rather to the better education of the Protestant population.

Here you can find a short non-technical overview on this topic.

Research papers:

Was Weber Wrong? A Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economic History (with S.O. Becker). Quarterly Journal of Economics 124 (2): 531-596, 2009 (Reprinted in: E. Spolaore (ed.), Culture and Economic Growth, Vol. I, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2014)

Luther and the Girls: Religious Denomination and the Female Education Gap in 19th Century Prussia (with S.O. Becker). Scandinavian Journal of Economics 110 (4): 777-805, 2008

The Effect of Protestantism on Education before the Industrialization: Evidence from 1816 Prussia (with S.O. Becker). Economics Letters 107 (2): 224-228, 2010

Non-technical contributions:

How Luther’s Quest for Education Changed German Economic History: 9+5 Theses on the Effects of the Protestant Reformation (with S.O. Becker). In: J.-P. Carvalho, S. Iyer, J. Rubin (eds.), Advances in the Economics of Religion, International Economic Association Series, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 215-227, 2019

Education and Socio-Economic Development during the Industrialization (with S.O. Becker). In: C. Diebolt, M. Haupert (eds.), Handbook of Cliometrics, 2nd ed., Berlin: Springer, 2019

The Effects of the Protestant Reformation on Human Capital (with S.O. Becker). In: R.M. McCleary (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Religion, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 93-110, 2011

Material available only in German

Newspaper articles:

Sind Protestanten schlauer? Die Zeit, No. 42, 12.10.2017, p. 76

My 9+5 theses for the Luther year.

Martin Luther und die Wirtschaft. Wirtschaftswoche, No. 11, 10.3.2017, p. 35

Bibellesen bildet. Handelsblatt, 12.12.2008, p. K4

Interview:

Bildet Euch! Die Zeit, 23.12.2008, p. 65

Two contributions about our research results:

Martin Luther - ein Feminist der ersten Stunde? "Wissenswert"-Beitrag im Handelsblatt vom 29.12.2008 über unsere Forschung zum Effekt des Protestantismus auf die Bildung der weiblichen Bevölkerung

Wenn Bibelstunden reich machen. "Wissenswert"-Beitrag im Handelsblatt vom 16.7.2007 über unsere Forschung zum Effekt des Protestantismus auf Bildung und Wohlstand

Non-technical contributions:

Die Bedeutung von Religion für die Bildung: Eine neue wirtschaftshistorische Forschungsagenda anhand preußischer Kreisdaten, Teil 1. ifo Schnelldienst 63 (23): 25-32, 2010

Die Bedeutung von Bildung für die Wirtschaftsentwicklung: Eine neue wirtschaftshistorische Forschungsagenda anhand preußischer Kreisdaten, Teil 2. ifo Schnelldienst 64 (1): 41-47, 2011