The Long Reach of Religious Education: New Evidence on Compulsion, Beliefs, and Economic Life
Arold, Woessmann & Zierow: "Can Schools Change Religious Attitudes? Evidence from German State Reforms of Compulsory Religious Education" Journal of Human Resources
A fundamental question in the political economy of education concerns the lasting influence of school curricula on deeply held personal values. A recent study by Benjamin W. Arold (University of Cambridge), Ludger Woessmann (LMU Munich, Project A06), and Larissa Zierow (Reutlingen University) examines this issue by exploiting the unique context of German state reforms that terminated compulsory religious education.
Since the 1970s, German states abolished mandatory religious instruction, replacing it with the option for students to choose between denominational religious education and non-denominational “ethics” classes. Utilizing the staggered adoption across states in a fixed-effects difference-in-differences model, the researchers isolate the long-term impact on students into adulthood.
The primary finding reveals that exposure to the reform significantly reduced the religiosity of affected students later in life. Self-reported religiosity decreased by 7 percent of a standard deviation. This decline is visible across specific religious actions: personal prayer, church-going, and formal church membership. Quantitatively, the reform reduced the likelihood of an individual being (rather or very) religious by 2.9 percentage points, corresponding to a persuasion rate of 6 percent among religious people.
Crucially, the reforms led to significant consequences beyond the religious sphere, consistent with a shift toward worldly norms and economic activities. Individuals exposed to the reform showed higher labor-market participation and employment. Earnings increased by 5.3 percent. Moreover, the reform resulted in a reduction in the number of children (by 0.09 children per respondent).
In contrast, the researchers found no significant effects on a variety of measured ethical or political values, such as reciprocity, trust, volunteering, or satisfaction with democracy. This outcome aligns with the fact that the post-reform counterfactual was value-oriented instruction (ethics), suggesting the observed decline stemmed specifically from the termination of denominational instruction, not a general reduction in moral guidance. These results demonstrate that religious curricula in state schools can exert a powerful and lasting influence, shaping not only belief systems but also long-term economic behavior.
