The effect of education on religion: Evidence from compulsory schooling laws

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2014, vol. 104, issue C, 52-63

Abstract: 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 affiliation 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. This is a reasonably large effect: extrapolating the results to the broader population would suggest that increases in schooling could explain most of the large rise in non-affiliation in Canada in recent decades.

Keywords: Education; Religion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (74)

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Related works:
Chapter: The Effect of Education on Religion: Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Laws (2013)
Working Paper: The Effect of Education on Religion: Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Laws (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:104:y:2014:i:c:p:52-63

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2013.09.004

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