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Did Protestantism promote prosperity via higher human capital? Replicating the Becker–Woessmann (2009) results

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  • Jeremy Edwards

Abstract

This paper shows that the Becker–Woessmann reformulation of the Weber thesis—Protestants were more prosperous in 19th‐century Prussia because they had higher human capital—is untenable. Regional variations in the Prussian institutional framework influenced economic outcomes, but Becker and Woessmann's econometric analysis takes no account of these variables, which suggests that their instrumental variable—distance to Wittenberg, a spatial variable—is invalid. When these regional effects are taken into account, 19th‐century Prussia provides no evidence that Protestantism increased prosperity by increasing human capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeremy Edwards, 2021. "Did Protestantism promote prosperity via higher human capital? Replicating the Becker–Woessmann (2009) results," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(6), pages 853-858, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:japmet:v:36:y:2021:i:6:p:853-858
    DOI: 10.1002/jae.2851
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sascha O. Becker & Ludger Woessmann, 2009. "Was Weber Wrong? A Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economic History," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(2), pages 531-596.
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    3. Morgan Kelly, 2019. "The Standard Errors of Persistence," Working Papers 201913, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    4. José Luis Montiel Olea & Carolin Pflueger, 2013. "A Robust Test for Weak Instruments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 358-369, July.
    5. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2008. "Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 414-427, August.
    6. Kelly, Morgan, 2019. "The Standard Errors of Persistence," CEPR Discussion Papers 13783, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Tilly, Richard H. & Kopsidis, Michael, 2020. "From Old Regime to Industrial State," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226725437.
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    Cited by:

    1. Charotti, Carlos J. & Palma, Nuno & Pereira dos Santos, João, 2025. "American treasure and the decline of Spain," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    2. Delichte, Jody & Powell, E. Erin & Hamann, Ralph & Baker, Ted, 2024. "To profit or not to profit: Founder identity at the intersection of religion and entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(4).

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