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Title: Protestantism and Economic Outcomes: German Immigrants during the Age of Mass Migration

Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis

Publication Year: 2019

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Abstract: Since Weber proposed a link between Protestantism and economic growth, scholars have found evidence both for and against his theory. Those that find evidence in support of Weber’s theory explain that Protestantism affects growth through a better work ethic or investment in human capital. In this paper, I study Protestantism’s effect on economic outcomes through these two channels among German Immigrants in the Age of Mass Migration (1850-1920). I construct a sample of 1,097 individuals from the IPUMS Linked Representative Sample and identify their religious identity by region of birth. With this sample, I study the effect of Protestantism on occupational income, social mobility, and educational decisions. I also consider how sample bias and cohort effects may impact my results. In my sample, Protestants and Catholics have similar rates of occupational income growth and social mobility, and this finding is robust across subsamples and to alternative controls. There is also not a measurable difference between education decisions among children of immigrants; children of Protestant immigrants attend school at similar rates as Catholic immigrants. In fact, boys of Protestant immigrants likely attended school less frequently than boys of Catholic immigrants.

Url: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bb67/a37de39d0a0708c90e74c537ecff4e20c5d4.pdf

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Authors: Burkhardt, Helen; Thesis, Senior Mmss

Institution: Northwestern University

Department: Economics

Advisor: Sara Hernàndez-Saborit

Degree: MMSS

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Migration and Immigration

Countries: United States