Religious Affiliation and Participation as Determinants of Women's Educational Attainment and Wages

37 Pages Posted: 8 Sep 2005

See all articles by Evelyn L. Lehrer

Evelyn L. Lehrer

University of Illinois at Chicago - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: August 2005

Abstract

Using a human capital model, this paper develops hypotheses about how religious affiliation and participation during childhood influence years of schooling completed and subsequent performance in the labor market as measured by wages. The hypotheses are tested using data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth, a large-scale survey addressed to a representative sample of women in the United States. Religious affiliation is found to have a significant impact on years of schooling completed, with the effects being particularly pronounced for Jews and conservative Protestants. The impact of religious affiliation on wages largely mirrors its influence on educational attainment, although evidence of additional effects operating through other channels is also uncovered. In addition, the results show that youth who attend religious services frequently during childhood go on to complete more years of schooling than their less observant counterparts.

Keywords: religion, education, wages

JEL Classification: J24, J31

Suggested Citation

Lehrer, Evelyn L., Religious Affiliation and Participation as Determinants of Women's Educational Attainment and Wages (August 2005). IZA Discussion Paper No. 1725, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=799711 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.799711

Evelyn L. Lehrer (Contact Author)

University of Illinois at Chicago - Department of Economics ( email )

725 University Hall (UH)
Chicago, IL 60607-7121
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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