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.
| Item Type: | Paper |
|---|---|
| Faculties: | Economics Economics > Chairs > CESifo-Professorship for Empirical Innovation Economics |
| Subjects: | 300 Social sciences > 330 Economics |
| Place of Publication: | Coventry and UK |
| Language: | English |
| Item ID: | 20260 |
| Date Deposited: | 15. Apr 2014, 08:57 |
| Last Modified: | 29. Apr 2016, 09:17 |
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