Arbeitspapier

Can schools change religious attitudes? Evidence from German state reforms of compulsory religious education

We study whether compulsory religious education in schools affects students' religiosity as adults. We exploit the staggered termination of compulsory religious education across German states in models with state and cohort fixed effects. Using three different datasets, we find that abolishing compulsory religious education significantly reduced religiosity of affected students in adulthood. It also reduced the religious actions of personal prayer, church-going, and church membership. Beyond religious attitudes, the reform led to more equalized gender roles, fewer marriages and children, and higher labor-market participation and earnings. The reform did not affect ethical and political values or non-religious school outcomes.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: Discussion Paper ; No. 309

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Cultural Economics: Religion
Education: Government Policy
State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
Thema
religious education
religiosity
school reforms

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Arold, Benjamin W.
Woessmann, Ludger
Zierow, Larissa
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München und Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Collaborative Research Center Transregio 190 - Rationality and Competition
(wo)
München und Berlin
(wann)
2022

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:43 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Arold, Benjamin W.
  • Woessmann, Ludger
  • Zierow, Larissa
  • Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München und Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Collaborative Research Center Transregio 190 - Rationality and Competition

Entstanden

  • 2022

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