Latika Chaudhary|Jared Rubin
Reading, writing, and religion: Institutions and human capital formation
California State University, Fullerton|Scripps College|California State University, Fullerton|Scripps College
paper empirically test role religious political institutions play accumulation human capital using new data set literacy colonial india find muslim literacy negatively correlated proportion muslims district although find similar result hindu literacy employ theoretical model suggests districts experienced recent collapse muslim political authority powerful better funded religious authorities established religious schools less effective promoting literacy margin state schools test hypothesis econometrically finding period muslim political collapse statistically significant effect muslim literacy controlling eliminates significance proportion muslims muslim literacy suggests long hand history played role subsequent differences human capital formation persistence institutions discouraging literacy