Abstract
Based on the argument in both economic and sociological literature that religion is conducive to children’s human capital formation, this paper provides a model of religious participation and explores a mechanism that “social capital” affects children’s education, a la Coleman [Coleman, J.S., 1988. Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology 94, S95–S120]. The model generates several interesting implications, which help explain some important stylized facts about education and religion. Further, in a dynamic setting, the model shows that there exists a steady state in which individuals allocate a positive amount of time and resources to religious activities. Thus, it complements the existing literature to explain why seemingly unproductive religions can be everlasting.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 303-317 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization |
Volume | 65 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Feb 2008 |
Funding
I am grateful to an anonymous referee and the editor for constructive comments and advice that improved the quality of the paper significantly. I also thank Stephen Chiu, Moshe Hazan, and Oded Stark for helpful discussions. The remaining errors are entirely my own.
Keywords
- Human capital
- Religious participation
- Social capital