IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/apeclt/v18y2011i5p433-437.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Heeding the call: seminary enrollment and the business cycle

Author

Listed:
  • D. R. Hughes
  • D. T. Mitchell
  • D. P. Molinari

Abstract

We examine a panel of divinity school enrollments to explore the motivations of prospective clergy considering post-graduate training in preparation for the ministry. Employing the fixed-effects within estimator allows us to see pecuniary motivations while controlling for the differences between types of divinity school and denomination. We find decisions by prospective clergy to enroll in seminary are responsive to changes in the business cycle as well as salaries. Our results reinforce the view that variation in opportunity costs associated with business cycles plays a significant role in the timing of human capital formation even for those with mostly nonmonetary motivations.

Suggested Citation

  • D. R. Hughes & D. T. Mitchell & D. P. Molinari, 2011. "Heeding the call: seminary enrollment and the business cycle," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(5), pages 433-437.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:apeclt:v:18:y:2011:i:5:p:433-437
    DOI: 10.1080/13504851003689668
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&doi=10.1080/13504851003689668&magic=repec&7C&7C8674ECAB8BB840C6AD35DC6213A474B5
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13504851003689668?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michelle W. Trawick & Stephen E. Lile, 2007. "Religious Market Competition and Clergy Salary: Evidence from SBC Congregations in the South," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(4), pages 747-763, October.
    2. Julian R. Betts & Laurel L. McFarland, 1995. "Safe Port in a Storm: The Impact of Labor Market Conditions on Community College Enrollments," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 30(4), pages 741-765.
    3. Harris Dellas & Plutarchos Sakellaris, 2003. "On the cyclicality of schooling: theory and evidence," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 55(1), pages 148-172, January.
    4. Condon, Daniel, 2002. "Monopsony power and the market for clergy: Some evidence from the census," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 889-900.
    5. Dellas, Harris & Koubi, Vally, 2003. "Business cycles and schooling," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 843-859, November.
    6. Freddy Heylen & Lorenzo Pozzi, 2007. "Crises and human capital accumulation," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(4), pages 1261-1285, November.
    7. Bedard, Kelly & Herman, Douglas A., 2008. "Who goes to graduate/professional school? The importance of economic fluctuations, undergraduate field, and ability," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 197-210, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sara Ayllón & Natalia Nollenberger, 2021. "The Unequal Opportunity For Skills Acquisition During The Great Recession In Europe," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(2), pages 289-316, June.
    2. Barbara Sadaba & Sunčica Vujič & Sofia Maier, 2020. "Cyclicality of Schooling: New Evidence from Unobserved Components Models," Staff Working Papers 20-38, Bank of Canada.
    3. Diana Alessandrini & Stephen Kosempel & Thanasis Stengos, 2012. "The Business Cycle Human Capital Accumulation Nexus and its Effect on Labor Supply Volatility," Working Paper series 62_12, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    4. Jennifer Graves & Zoë Kuehn, 2022. "Higher education decisions and macroeconomic conditions at age eighteen," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 171-241, May.
    5. Pratikshya Sapkota & Umesh Bastola, 2015. "On the relationship between business cycle and college enrollment in the U.S.: a time series approach," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 4(1), pages 7-16.
    6. Bonacini, Luca, 2020. "Unequal effects of the economic cycle on human capital investment. Evidence from Italian panel data," GLO Discussion Paper Series 733, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Alessandrini, Diana & Kosempel, Stephen & Stengos, Thanasis, 2015. "The business cycle human capital accumulation nexus and its effect on hours worked volatility," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 356-377.
    8. Johnson, Matthew T., 2013. "The impact of business cycle fluctuations on graduate school enrollment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 122-134.
    9. Bedard, Kelly & Herman, Douglas A., 2008. "Who goes to graduate/professional school? The importance of economic fluctuations, undergraduate field, and ability," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 197-210, April.
    10. Erica Blom & Brian C. Cadena & Benjamin J. Keys, 2021. "Investment over the Business Cycle: Insights from College Major Choice," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(4), pages 1043-1082.
    11. John P. Conley & Ali Sina Önder & Benno Torgler, 2012. "Are all High-Skilled Cohorts Created Equal? Unemployment, Gender, and Research Productivity," Working Papers 2012.86, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    12. Murat Demirci & Meltem Poyraz, 2021. "Post-Compulsory Schooling of Youth in Turkey during the Great Recession: A Case of Pro-cyclical Enrollment," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 2117, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    13. Dimitrios Varvarigos, 2017. "Endogenous cycles and human capital," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 120(1), pages 31-45, January.
    14. Emanuela Ghignoni, 2015. "Family background and university dropouts during the crisis: the case of Italy," Working Papers in Public Economics 169, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Economics and Law.
    15. Elizabeth B. Clelan & Michael S. Kofoed, 2017. "The Effect Of The Business Cycle On Freshman Financial Aid," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(2), pages 253-268, April.
    16. Dimitrios Varvarigos, 2013. "Endogenous Cycles and Human Capital," Discussion Papers in Economics 13/18, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    17. Fabio Méndez & Facundo Sepúlveda, 2012. "The Cyclicality of Skill Acquisition: Evidence from Panel Data," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 128-152, July.
    18. Alessandrini, Diana, 2018. "Is post-secondary education a safe port and for whom? Evidence from Canadian data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 1-13.
    19. Sievertsen, Hans Henrik, 2016. "Local unemployment and the timing of post-secondary schooling," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 17-28.
    20. Summerfield, Fraser, 2014. "Labor Market Conditions, Skill Requirements and Education Mismatch," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2014-19, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 28 Apr 2014.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:apeclt:v:18:y:2011:i:5:p:433-437. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEL20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.