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Religious Participation And Children's Education : A Social Capital Approach, Chengze, Simon Fan

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

Based on the argument in both economic and sociological literature that religion is conducive to their 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 (1988). 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 …