Religious practice and student performance: Evidence from Ramadan fasting

Hornung, Erik; Schwerdt, Guido; Strazzeri, Maurizio (2021). Religious practice and student performance: Evidence from Ramadan fasting

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We investigate how the intensity of Ramadan affects educational outcomes by exploiting spatio-temporal variation in annual fasting hours. Longer fasting hours are related to increases in student performance in a panel of TIMMS test scores (1995-2019) across Muslim countries but not other countries. Results are confirmed in a panel of PISA test scores (2003-2018) allowing within country-wave comparisons of Muslim to non-Muslim students across Europe. We provide evidence consistent with the hypothesis that a demanding Ramadan during adolescence affects educational performance by facilitating formation of social capital and social identity via increased religious participation and shared experiences among students.

Item Type:	Working Paper
Division/Institute:	03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Department of Economics
UniBE Contributor:	Strazzeri, Maurizio
Subjects:	300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 330 Economics
Language:	English
Submitter:	Dino Collalti
Date Deposited:	31 Jan 2022 09:18
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 16:01
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/163812