Abstract
ABSTRACT. Using data from 80 countries, this article analyzes whether Protestant religion affects labor market outcomes. Controlling for the impact of labor market regulations, business regulations, the tax burden, the business cycle, the level of economic development, demographic and geographical conditions, wars, and the transition from planned to market economy as well as unobserved country and year effects, we find that countries in which the largest portion of the population practices Protestant religion have substantially higher labor force participation and employment rates, particularly among women. We obtain the same result for a subgroup of 19 industrial countries for which we have better data to control for the impact of labor market institutions and business cycle fluctuations.

evidence supporting his thesis, he noted, inter alia, the larger participation of Protestants, as compared to Catholics, in modern business life of Germany at his time.

Weber ([1922] 1978) also claimed that Eastern religions like Buddhism and Islam are not supportive of the kind of disciplined work that characterizes modern capitalism. Furthermore, using survey data covering 66 countries, Guiso et al. (2003) recently found that Muslims have an especially conservative attitude toward working women.

Against this background we hypothesize that, ceteris paribus, labor force participation and employment in countries in which the largest portion of the population practices Protestant religion are higher than in other countries, particularly among women. Note that we do not argue that religion necessarily has a direct impact on most people's behavior today. Although in many countries parents, schools, and churches bring children up by teaching them specific religious beliefs and norms, in so-called secularized societies the impact of religion may be indirect. Indeed, Weber ([1904 Weber ([ -1905 Weber ([ ] 2002 Weber ([ , [1948 Weber ([ ] 1991 thought that the growth in rationalism (in economic life, public administration, and, particularly, in science), although initially stimulated by Protestantism, would increasingly undermine Protestantism's position as a social power. He argued that Protestantism had been important for the rise of modern capitalism only during the 16 th to 18 th centuries, namely, to stimulate entrepreneurial spirit and to assimilate workers into the factory system. Weber thought that the Protestant underpinnings of individual productivity had been replaced by secular institutions in the 19 th century. This view of an indirect impact of religion is corroborated by a more recent empirical study (Inglehart and Baker 2000) . Using survey data from 65 societies, the authors find that:

given religious traditions have historically shaped the national culture of given societies, but that today their impact is transmitted mainly through nationwide institutions, to the population of that society as a whole-even to those who have little or no contact with religious institutions. . . . The fact that a society was historically shaped by Protestantism or Confucianism or Islam leaves a cultural heritage with enduring effects that influence subsequent developments. (2000: 36, 49) 796
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There are only a few previous empirical studies on the labor market effects of Protestantism. All of them focus on a single aspect: the effect on female labor supply. Schmidt (1993) finds that female labor force participation increased more slowly in Catholic countries than in Protestant ones. Lesthaeghe (1995) reaches a similar result. Similarly, positive correlations are reported between Protestant religion and "female work desirability" (Siaroff 1994 ) and between percent Protestant and egalitarian attitudes toward women's employment (Haller and Hoellinger 1994) . None of these studies covers a large group of countries. Nor do they control for the impact of most other important institutions that have been found to affect the performance of the labor market. This article empirically analyzes the effect of Protestant religion on labor force participation and employment rates among the total working-age population as well as among women and young people. Our first set of regressions covers a large group of up to 80 countries from all over the world. This group consists of industrial, developing, and transition countries (for a list of countries, see Appendix A). Subsequently, we present regressions covering a subgroup of 19 industrial countries for which we have better data to control for the impact of labor market institutions and business cycle fluctuations (for definitions and sources of all variables, see Appendix B).
The American Journal of Economics and Sociology
1 Using data from two sets of countries, in each case employing different control variables, enables us to check the robustness of our results.
The American Journal of Economics and Sociology
2 Section II describes the variables and the empirical strategy. Section III presents and discusses the regression results. Section IV concludes.
II

Data
WE USED THE CIA's (2005) World Factbook to identify countries in which the largest portion of the population practices Protestant religion. Our variable of interest, Protestant religion, is a dummy rather than a variable indicating the percentage share of adherents to Protestantism. As dominant religions have shaped the national culture of given societies, the differences in values between religious groups within given societies are in fact relatively small (Inglehart and Baker 2000) . Thus, a dummy variable for Protestantism appears to be more likely to capture the effect of this religion on labor market performance.
Data
As mentioned in the previous section, we use six different dependent variables to measure the effects on labor market performance: labor force participation rates and employment rates, each of which for the total working-age population as well as for women and young people. The various labor market performance variables enable us not only to determine whether Protestant religion affects the overall levels of labor force participation and employment; they also enable us to analyze whether it affects two important demographic groups.
Data
Most of the labor market performance data used in this article come from the latest edition of the ILO's (2005) Key Indicators of the Labour Market. All series are exclusively based on labor force surveys. The labor force participation series are harmonized to account for differences in national data collection and tabulation methodologies as well as for other country-specific factors such as military requirements. The employment series are harmonized to a large extent. With regard to age limits, for example, most national employment series presented in this publication refer to the age group 15 years and older. Furthermore, for the latest edition of its Key Indicators of the Labour Market the ILO has "cleaned" the national employment series to eliminate breaks in series. Thus, these data are comparable over time.
Data
In our first set of regressions covering a large group of up to 80 industrial, developing, and transition countries, we control for various factors that are likely to influence variations in labor force participation and employment rates among these different types of countries. Specifically, we control for the impact of labor market regulations, business regulations, the tax burden, the business cycle, the level of economic development, demographic and geographical conditions, wars, and the transition from planned to market economy. Additionally, we control for unobserved year-specific effects.
Data
In the regressions for our subgroup of 19 industrial countries, because of much better data availability we are able to control for the impact of most labor market institutions that have been considered in the recent literature (see, e.g., Nickell et al. 2005; Bassanini and Duval 2006) . Specifically, we control for trade union density, wage
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The American Journal of Economics and Sociology bargaining centralization and coordination, tax wedge, employment protection legislation, unemployment benefits replacement rates, and active labor market policies. Furthermore, we control for the state of the business cycle and the level of economic development. Finally, in the regressions to explain labor force participation and employment among youths, we control for the share of young people enrolled in tertiary education. We employ the tertiary enrollment rate in the regressions for both the large and the small group of countries. Except for the variables to control for business cycle fluctuations, all independent economic variables were lagged by one year to allow for slow adjustment and to avoid simultaneity problems. For example, changes in the strictness of labor market regulations are likely to affect the performance of the labor market only after some time. The respective variables were lagged in the regressions for both groups of countries.
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The regression coefficients are estimated using the random effects, feasible generalized least squares procedure that incorporates timeinvariant country effects (Swamy-Arora method). This enables us to exploit both the cross-country and the time-series variation included in the sample while simultaneously controlling for unobserved country effects.
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3 Allowing for cross-country differences in labor market performance that reflect the influence of omitted variables is highly desirable, but the random effects method for doing so produces biased estimates if variables included as controls are correlated with country-specific error terms. Therefore, a Hausman test for misspecification of the random effects model is shown for each regression. As the results from this test indicate, none of our regressions for the large group of countries is biased (Tables 1 and 2 ) and only two out of six regressions for the small group are (Tables 3 and 4) . Finally, to correct for heteroskedasticity, we estimate robust t-statistics using the technique developed by White. income per capita. Heteroskedasticity-consistent t-statistics in parentheses (White method). ***(**/*) denotes statistically significant at the 1%(5%/10%) level. All regressions also contain a constant term.
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b c both groups, the estimates for our variable of interest consistently indicate that labor force participation and employment rates are comparatively higher in Protestant countries, both among the total working-age population and among the two demographic groups. The coefficient on the Protestant religion variable is statistically significant in each of our regressions. Protestant religion appears to make a large difference. Compared to countries dominated by other religions, labor force participation rates are between 6.1 and 6.6 percentage points higher in Protestant countries, ceteris paribus.
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4 Similarly, employment rates are between 5.5 and 6.3 percentage points higher, ceteris paribus.
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Unsurprisingly, the effect on women is even larger. Compared to countries dominated by other religions, female labor force participation rates are between 11.0 and 12.8 percentage points higher, while female employment rates are between 10.7 and 11.7 percentage points higher in Protestant countries, ceteris paribus.
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Young people's labor market involvement is also substantially higher in Protestant countries. Compared to countries dominated by other religions, youth labor force participation rates are between 7.4 and 8.6 percentage points higher, while youth employment rates are between 7.3 and 10.1 percentage points higher, ceteris paribus.
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How can Protestant religion make such a huge difference to labor market performance even today? One possibility is that there still is a significant number of Protestants who believe in predestination and thus work hard to assure themselves that they have in fact been selected for salvation. However, as Landes (1998) points out, the belief in predestination did not last more than a generation or two after the Reformation. He argues that Protestantism rather generalized the virtue of hard and diligent work among its adherents, who judged one another by conformity to this standard. Thus, most Protestants today are likely to work not in order to attain certainty of salvation but because their parents taught them the virtue of work.
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An even more important transmission channel is indicated by Inglehart and Baker's (2000) finding that dominant religions have shaped the national culture of given societies, with differences in values between religious groups within given societies being relatively small. This suggests that the Protestant virtue of hard and diligent
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The American Journal of Economics and Sociology work has become part of a national culture of the relevant countries.
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Today these values and norms are transmitted by educational institutions and mass media to all people living in a Protestant country. While the majority of individuals may have little or no contact with the church today, the impact of living in a society that was historically shaped by once-powerful Protestant institutions persists today, shaping everyone-Protestants as well as others-to fit into a given national culture that includes the value of hard and diligent work (Inglehart and Baker 2000) . Conversely, countries dominated by other religions (e.g., Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism) are likely to have developed a national culture that does not put a high value on hard and diligent work and may be hostile toward paid employment of women. Note that our account is largely consistent with Weber's own argument (Section I). Thus, as far as the link between Protestantism, on the one hand, and labor force participation and employment rates, on the other, is concerned, both our empirical findings and our interpretation suggest that there may be more to his argument today than is commonly realized.
IV

Conclusion
OUR RESULTS INDICATE that Protestant religion is likely to have a major impact on labor market performance. Countries in which the largest portion of the population practices Protestant religion have substantially higher labor force participation and employment rates, particularly among women. The Protestant ethic that stresses hard and diligent work appears to have an enduring impact on people's labor market involvement. The fact that we obtain the same result for the subgroup of industrial countries as for the large group of countries suggests that the Protestant work ethic is likely to be influential even in today's modern societies.
Conclusion
Although we control for a host of factors that are likely to affect the performance of the labor market (including unobserved country effects) and although our results are very robust across our two groups of countries, more research is clearly warranted. In particular, the transmission channels from religious denominations to labor market performance need to be more closely scrutinized in future research, both theoretically and empirically. Furthermore, the policy implications of our findings need to be thoroughly discussed. As governments can hardly influence religious denominations (except in totalitarian regimes), the scope for public policy to increase labor force participation and employment rates may be smaller than previously thought. 2. We also checked the robustness of our results by excluding from the sample statistical outliers, or any particular country, or any random draw of 10 percent of observations. None of these checks had any noticeable impact on the coefficient of our variable of interest (results not reported here).
Conclusion
3. As there is no time-series variation in the data for our variable of interest, the fixed-effects model is not a feasible alternative to control for unobserved country effects. It only uses the time-series variation within countries.
Conclusion
4. The figures in this and the following two paragraphs are based on the coefficients from the regressions for the large and the small group of countries, respectively.

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