TY  - RPRT
U1  - Arbeitspapier
A1  - Arold, Benjamin
A1  - Woessmann, Ludger
A1  - Zierow, Larissa
T1  - Can schools change religious attitudes? Evidence from German state reforms of compulsory religious education
T2  - IZA Discussion Papers
N2  - 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.
KW  - religious education
KW  - school reforms
KW  - religiosity
Y1  - 2022
UR  - https://www.iza.org/de/publications/dp/14989/can-schools-change-religious-attitudes-evidence-from-german-state-reforms-of-compulsory-religious-education
SN  - 2365-9793
SS  - 2365-9793
IS  - 14989
SP  - 83
S1  - 83
PB  - Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH
CY  - Bonn
ER  -