Devotion and Development: Religiosity, Education, and Economic Progress in Nineteenth-Century France

Squicciarini, Mara

Devotion and Development: Religiosity, Education, and Economic Progress in Nineteenth-Century France

American Economic Review, 2020, vol. 110, issue 11, 3454-91

Abstract: This paper studies when religion can hamper diffusion of knowledge and economic development, and through which mechanism. I examine Catholicism in France during the Second Industrial Revolution (1870–1914). In this period, technology became skill-intensive, leading to the introduction of technical education in primary schools. I find that more religious locations had lower economic development after 1870. Schooling appears to be the key mechanism: more religious areas saw a slower adoption of the technical curriculum and a push for religious education. In turn, religious education was negatively associated with industrial development 10 to 15 years later, when schoolchildren entered the labor market.

JEL-codes: D83 I21 I26 N33 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (72)

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DOI: 10.1257/aer.20191054

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