Can Schools Change Religious Attitudes? Evidence from German State Reforms of Compulsory Religious Education

84 Pages Posted: 11 Jan 2022

See all articles by Benjamin W. Arold

Benjamin W. Arold

ETH Zurich Center for Law and Economics

Ludger Woessmann

Ifo Institute for Economic Research; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research); University of Munich - Ifo Institute for Economic Research

Larissa Zierow

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) - Ifo Institute

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: 2022

Abstract

We study whether compulsory religious education in schools affects students’ religiosity as adults. We exploit the staggered termination of compulsory religious education across German states in models with state and cohort fixed effects. Using three different datasets, we find that abolishing compulsory religious education significantly reduced religiosity of affected students in adulthood. It also reduced the religious actions of personal prayer, church-going, and church membership. Beyond religious attitudes, the reform led to more equalized gender roles, fewer marriages and children, and higher labor-market participation and earnings. The reform did not affect ethical and political values or non-religious school outcomes.

Keywords: religious education, religiosity, school reforms

JEL Classification: Z120, I280, H750

Suggested Citation

Arold, Benjamin and Woessmann, Ludger and Zierow, Larissa, Can Schools Change Religious Attitudes? Evidence from German State Reforms of Compulsory Religious Education (2022). CESifo Working Paper No. 9504, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4005751 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4005751

Benjamin Arold (Contact Author)

ETH Zurich Center for Law and Economics ( email )

Zurich, 8092
Switzerland

Ludger Woessmann

Ifo Institute for Economic Research ( email )

Poschingerstr. 5
Munich
Germany
++49 89 9224 1699 (Phone)
++49 89 9224 1460 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.cesifo.de/link/woessmann_l.htm

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

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

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

University of Munich - Ifo Institute for Economic Research

Schackstr. 4
Munich, 80539
Germany

Larissa Zierow

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) - Ifo Institute ( email )

Dresden Branch
Einsteinstraße 3
Dresden, 01069
Germany

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