Effect of religious attendance on the middle-aged worker’s wage in the United States: a possible causal connection

Abstract

ABSTRACT The current study explores the possibility of a causal connection between a worker’s religious attendance and wage. Numerous studies in the literature have already demonstrated a positive correlation between these two variables. For effective policy applications, however, it is necessary to find out whether there exists a causal connection between them. The study uses the US data and tests the hypothesis that religious attendance of middle-aged workers has a positive causal effect on their wages. Following an instrumental variable approach, the current study tests this hypothesis and demonstrates that religious attendance is very much likely to have a causal effect on middle-aged workers’ earnings. This has important policy implications and thus deserves further attention from researchers and policymakers.