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No 2009:152:
Religion, Human Capital Investments and the Family in the United States
Evelyn L. Lehrer
()
Additional contact information
Evelyn L. Lehrer: IZA, Postal: P.O. Box 7240, 53072 Bonn, Germany
Abstract: This paper critically reviews what is known, based on analyses of micro-level U.S. data, about the role of religion in various interrelated decisions that people make over the life cycle, including investments in secular human capital, cohabitation, marriage, divorce, family size and employment. It also identifies gaps in our knowledge, and suggests agenda items for future research in the field. These include use of statistical models that allow for nonlinearities in the effects associated with religious participation; consideration of contextual effects; and analyses that address anomalies found in earlier work regarding patterns of nonmarital sex and divorce among conservative Protestants. Further work is also needed to increase our understanding of the role that religious factors are playing as various dimensions of the second demographic transition, along with elements of "American exceptionalism," continue to unfold in the U.S.
Keywords: Religion; religiosity
Language: English
23 pages, 2009
Note: Available online at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp4279.pdf
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