Not the opium of the people: Income and secularization in a panel of Prussian counties

Arbeitspapier

The interplay between religion and the economy has occupied social scientists for long. We construct a unique panel of income and Protestant church attendance for six waves of up to 175 Prussian counties spanning 1886-1911. The data reveal a marked decline in church attendance coinciding with increasing income. The cross-section also shows a negative association between income and church attendance. But the association disappears in panel analyses, including first-differenced models of the 1886-1911 change, panel models with county and time fixed effects, and panel Granger-causality tests. The results cast doubt on causal interpretations of the religion-economy nexus in Prussian secularization.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 7151

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Cultural Economics: Religion ; Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Europe: Pre-1913
• Subject: religion ; secularization ; Prussian economic history

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Becker, Sascha O. ; Woessmann, Ludger
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2013

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/69475
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET