Not the Opium of the People: Income and Secularization in a Panel of Prussian Counties

Sascha Becker and Ludger Woessmann

American Economic Review, 2013, vol. 103, issue 3, 539-44

Abstract: The interplay between religion and the economy has long occupied social scientists. We construct a unique panel of income and Protestant church attendance using 175 Prussian counties, presented in six waves from 1886 to 1911. The data reveal a marked decline in church attendance coinciding with increasing income. The cross-section also shows a negative association between income and church attendance. The associations disappear in panel analyses, including first-differenced models of the 1886 to 1911 change, panel models with county and time fixed effects, and panel Granger-causality tests. The results cast doubt on causal interpretations of the religion-economy nexus in Prussian secularization.

JEL-codes: E23 N13 N33 N93 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.3.539
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Related works:
Working Paper: Not the Opium of the People: Income and Secularization in a Panel of Prussian Counties (2013)
Working Paper: Not the Opium of the People: Income and Secularization in a Panel of Prussian Counties (2013)
Working Paper: Not the Opium of the People: Income and Secularization in a Panel of Prussian Counties (2013)
Working Paper: Not the Opium of the People: Income and Secularization in a Panel of Prussian Counties (2013)
Working Paper: Not the Opium of the People: Income and Secularization in a Panel of Prussian Counties (2013)
Working Paper: Not the opium of the people: Income and secularization in a panel of prussian counties (2013)
Working Paper: Not the Opium of the People: Income and Secularization in a Panel of Prussian Counties (2013)
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