The Economic Effects of the Protestant Reformation: Testing the Weber Hypothesis in the German Lands

Following Max Weber, many theories have hypothesized that
Protestantism should have favored economic development. With its
religious heterogeneity, the Holy Roman Empire presents an ideal
testing ground for this hypothesis. Using population figures of 272
cities in the years 1300–1900, I find no effects of Protestantism
on economic growth. The finding is precisely estimated, robust to
the inclusion of various controls, and does not depend on data
selection or small sample size. Protestantism has no effect when
interacted with other likely determinants of economic development.
Instrumental variables estimates, considering the potential
endogeneity of religious choice, are similar to the OLS results.