The Effect of Education on Religion: Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Laws / Daniel M. Hungerman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hungerman, Daniel M.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w16973.

NBER working paper series no. w16973

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

The Effect of Education on Religion

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2011.

Summary:

For over a century, social scientists have debated how educational attainment impacts religious belief. In this paper, I use Canadian compulsory schooling laws to identify the relationship between completed schooling and later religiosity. I find that higher levels of education lead to lower levels of religious participation later in life. An additional year of education leads to a 4-percentage-point decline in the likelihood that an individual identifies with any religious tradition; the estimates suggest that increases in schooling can explain most of the large rise in non-affiliation in Canada in recent decades.

Notes:

Print version record

April 2011.