Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP9299
Authors: Sascha O. Becker; Ludger Woessmann
Abstract: 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.
Keywords: Prussian; Economic History; Religion; Secularization
JEL Codes: N33; Z12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| income (E25) | church attendance (Z12) |
| income changes (D31) | church attendance changes (Z12) |
| initial income levels (D31) | church attendance (Z12) |
| church attendance (Z12) | initial income levels (D31) |