Parental religiosity and human capital development: A field study in Pakistan

In developing countries, a child’s human capital development often depends on a trade-off between attending school and engaging in work activities. While the emphasis placed by religion on education means that parents may assign more importance to schooling, parents engaging in time-consuming religious activities may require their children to work more to compensate. Given these countervailing forces, we conduct a field study in Pakistan to assess the impact of parental religiosity on children’s educational attainment and work activities. We find that parental religiosity has a robust positive impact on children’s school outcomes and reduces their work activity, and parents with less time-consuming religious practices drive these results.