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did protestantism promote prosperity via higher human capital? replicating the becker–woessmann (2009) results (replication data)

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.

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Suggested Citation

Edwards, Jeremy (2021): Did Protestantism promote prosperity via higher human capital? Replicating the Becker–Woessmann (2009) results (replication data). Version: 1. Journal of Applied Econometrics. Dataset. http://dx.doi.org/10.15456/jae.2022327.0719152252