Secularization and Long-Run Economic Growth

Abstract

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Secularization and Long‐run Economic Growth

“…Cantoni (), using city data for the Holy Roman Empire for the period 1300–1900, could not find an effect of Protestantism on economic growth. In an earlier version of this paper (Strulik ), I provided an explanation for this nonfinding using the model described above and arguing that a significant difference in economic performance may be discernible only in the 20th century.…”

Religious change preceded economic change in the 20th century

“…While this does not yet isolate one path of causality, it determines that economic growth is not what caused secularization in the past. Our observation that secularization preceded economic change further rules out a bicausal relationship between income and religion (13)(14)(15) as well as the theory that socioeconomic advances cause religious practices to be phased out (3,4,17).…”

“…Whereas some studies find a bicausal relationship between income and religion (13)(14)(15), causality effectively remains unknown as feedbacks may change through time and development. Organized religious charity, for example, might initially encourage certain values that facilitate economic development while restricting individual expression (16), but then the resulting economic development may subsequently reward individualism.…”

Fertility in High-Income Countries: Trends, Patterns, Determinants, and Consequences

“…Better-educated children are more productive when they enter the labor market, which has a positive effect on economic growth. Several studies have analyzed this behavioral response to declining fertility (Ashraf et al, 2013;Strulik et al, 2013;Kotschy and Sunde, 2018;Baldanzi et al, 2021;Marois et al, 2021;Strulik, 2022) and confirm it to be an important mechanism. The growth-promoting effect of better education is well established theoretically (Lucas, 1988;Strulik et al, 2013) and empirically (Cohen and Soto, 2007;Lutz et al, 2008;Woessmann, 2012, 2015).…”