Devotion and Development: Religiosity, Education, and Economic Progress in 19th-Century France

Abstract

This paper studies when religion can hamper diffusion of knowledge and economic development and through which mechanism. I examine Catholicism in France during the Second Industrial Revolution (1870-1914). In this period, technology became skill-intensive, leading to the introduction of technical education in primary schools. I find that more religious locations had lower economic development only after 1870. Schooling appears to be the key mechanism: more religious areas saw a slower adoption of the technical curriculum and a push for religious education. Religious education, in turn, was negatively associated with industrial development 10-15 years later, when schoolchildren entered the labor market.

Keywords: human capital, religiosity, industrialization

JEL Classification: J240, N130, Z120