Using a large individual-level dataset, we explore the significance of religious affiliation for human capital variation in Ireland at the turn of the twentieth century. We construct a large sample based on the returns of male household heads in the 1901 census and explore variation in literacy across the three principal denominations: Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism and Presbyterianism. Protestantism, particularly Presbyterianism, is associated with higher levels of human capital. This denominational effect is remarkably robust, even when accounting for various control variables and alternative modelling specifications. Supplementary analyses reveal that these literacy disparities existed before the foundation of centralised national schooling in 1831 and were independent of school attendance, as Presbyterians exhibited lower attendance rates than Anglicans. We suggest that denomination mattered because it affected the incentives to accrue literacy ability to fully participate in religious and wider cultural life.

中文翻译：

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新教与人力资本：来自 20 世纪初爱尔兰的证据


使用大型个人层面的数据集，我们探讨了宗教信仰对 20 世纪初爱尔兰人力资本变化的重要性。我们根据 1901 年人口普查中男性户主的回报构建了一个大样本，并探讨了三个主要教派的识字率差异：罗马天主教、英国国教和长老会。新教，尤其是长老会，与更高水平的人力资本有关。这种教派效应非常稳健，即使考虑到各种控制变量和替代建模规范也是如此。补充分析表明，这些识字差异在 1831 年中央全国学校教育成立之前就存在，并且与学校出勤率无关，因为长老会的出勤率低于英国国教徒。我们认为教派很重要，因为它影响了积累识字能力以充分参与宗教和更广泛的文化生活的激励。