Protestantism and Education: Reading (the Bible) and Other Skills

Timo Boppart, Josef Falkinger and Volker Grossmann

No 5402, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: During industrialization, Protestants were more literate than Catholics. This paper investigates whether this fact may be led back to the intrinsic motivation of Protestants to read the bible and whether other education motives were involved as well. We employ a historical data set from Switzerland which allows us to differentiate between different cognitive skills: reading, numeracy, essay writing and Swiss history. We develop an estimation strategy to examine whether the impact of religious denomination was particularly large with respect to reading capabilities. We find support for this hypothesis. However, Protestants’ education motives went beyond reading the bible.

Keywords: religious denomination; reading capability; education; cognitive skills; Protestant reformation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2010-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul and nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Economic Inquiry, 2014, 52 (2), 874-895

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Related works:
Journal Article: PROTESTANTISM AND EDUCATION: READING (THE BIBLE) AND OTHER SKILLS (2014)
Working Paper: Protestantism and Education: Reading (the Bible) and other Skills (2011)
Working Paper: Protestantism and Education: Reading (the Bible) and Other Skills (2011)
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