Qualifying Religion: The Role of Plural Identities for Educational Production

Timo Boppart, Josef Falkinger, Volker Grossmann, Ulrich Woitek and Gabriela W�thrich

No 360, IEW - Working Papers from Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich

Abstract: This paper examines the role of religious denomination for human capital formation. We employ a unique data set which covers, inter alia, information on numerous measures of school inputs in 169 Swiss districts for the years 1871/72, 1881/82 and 1894/95, marks from pedagogical examinations of conscripts (1875-1903), and results from political referenda to capture conservative or progressive values in addition to the cultural characteristics language and religion. Catholic districts show on average significantly lower educational performance than Protestant districts. However, accounting for other sociocultural characteristics qualifies the role of religion for educational production. The evidence suggests that Catholicism is harmful only in a conservative milieu. We also exploit information on absenteeism of pupils from school to separate provision of schooling from use of schooling.

Keywords: Culture; Educational production, Plural identity, Religious denomination, School inputs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H52 I20 N33 O10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-his, nep-hrm and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Working Paper: Qualifying Religion: The Role of Plural Identities for Educational Production (2008)
Working Paper: Qualifying Religion: The Role of Plural Identities for Educational Production (2008)
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