Economics of Religion

Religion in Economic History

Religion, Schools, and Student Outcomes

Compulsory Religious Education in School

Catholicism and Private School Competition

Overview

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 from 19th-century Prussia suggests that the better education of Protestants can account for most of their economic lead over Catholics.

Using unique data on participation in holy communion, we show that increased attendance of advanced schools was an important determinant of secularization in the form of reduced church attendance at the turn to the 20th century. By contrast, we do not find evidence of a causal effect of increased income on secularization.

In additional work, we show that Protestantism had a causal effect on higher suicide proneness. This effect had more to do with reduced social cohesion than with theological doctrine.

We also prepared an extensive survey on the role of religion in economic history.

Turning to contemporary analyses, my research shows that reforms that terminated compulsory religious education in German schools reduced religiosity of affected students in adulthood and also affected their family and labor-market outcomes.

Internationally, competition from privately operated schools that emerged from the resistance of the Catholic church against the emerging state school system in the second half of the 19th century positively affect students' academic achievement.