Education Promoted Secularization

Sascha Becker, Markus Nagler and Ludger Woessmann

No 8016, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Why did substantial parts of Europe abandon the institutionalized churches around 1900? Empirical studies using modern data mostly contradict the traditional view that education was a leading source of the seismic social phenomenon of secularization. We construct a unique panel dataset of advanced-school enrollment and Protestant church attendance in German cities between 1890 and 1930. Our cross-sectional estimates replicate a positive association. By contrast, in panel models where fixed effects account for time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity, education – but not income or urbanization – is negatively related to church attendance. In panel models with lagged explanatory variables, educational expansion precedes reduced church attendance.

Keywords: history; education; secularization; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 N33 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2014-03
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Published - published as ''Education and Religious Participation: City-Level Evidence from Germany's Secularization Period 1890-1930' in: Journal of Economic Growth, 2017, 22 (3), 273-311

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Related works:
Working Paper: Education Promoted Secularization (2014)
Working Paper: Education Promoted Secularization (2014)
Working Paper: Education Promoted Secularization (2014)
Working Paper: Education Promoted Secularization (2014)
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