How Economics Helped Shape American Judaism

31 Pages Posted: 26 Jul 2010

See all articles by Carmel U. Chiswick

Carmel U. Chiswick

George Washington University; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; University of Illinois at Chicago

Abstract

This chapter discusses the strong impact of economic forces, and changes in the economic environment, on American Jewish observance and American Jewish religious institutions in the 20th century. Beginning with the immigrants' experience of dramatic economic change between the old country and the new, it focuses on how this affected differences between European and American Jewish practices during the first half of the twentieth century. Equally dramatic upward economic mobility had implications for additional changes during the second half of the century. These were manifested by the development of distinctively American patterns of Jewish education. The relationship between Jewish education in the United States and the other major branches of World Jewry is discussed from an economic perspective. The economic underpinnings of religious intermarriage and assimilation are reviewed. A concluding section forecasts the future of American Judaism and Jewish observance in the coming decades.

Keywords: economics, religion, Judaism, economic history, immigrant adjustment, education, intermarriage

JEL Classification: Z12, N32, J12

Suggested Citation

Chiswick, Carmel Ullman, How Economics Helped Shape American Judaism. IZA Discussion Paper No. 5068, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1648353 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1648353

Carmel Ullman Chiswick (Contact Author)

George Washington University ( email )

Monroe Hall, Suite 340
2115 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
United States
(202) 994-3161 (Phone)
(202) 994-6147 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.uic.edu/~cchis

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

University of Illinois at Chicago ( email )

601 South Morgan Street
m/c 144
Chicago, IL 60607-7121
United States
312-996-2683 (Phone)
312-996-3344 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.uic.edu/~cchis

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
113
Abstract Views
862
Rank
438,854
PlumX Metrics