Not the Opium of the People: Income and Secularization in a Panel of Prussian Counties
利用1886-1911年普鲁士175个县的收入与教堂出席率面板数据，发现收入增长与教堂出席率下降在横截面中相关，但面板分析（包括固定效应和格兰杰因果检验）不支持收入对宗教参与的因果效应，质疑了宗教-经济关系的因果解释。
The interplay between religion and the economy has long occupied social scientists. We construct a unique panel of income and Protestant church attendance using 175 Prussian counties, presented in six waves from 1886 to 1911. The data reveal a marked decline in church attendance coinciding with increasing income. The cross-section also shows a negative association between income and church attendance. The associations disappear in panel analyses, including first-differenced models of the 1886 to 1911 change, panel models with county and time fixed effects, and panel Granger-causality tests. The results cast doubt on causal interpretations of the religion-economy nexus in Prussian secularization.