ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationship between a Catholic heritage and human capital accumulation. It focuses on the effects of religious background on educational attainment. The chapter aims to explain some of the effects of ethnicity and religion on educational attainment. It presents theoretical issues and examines empirical models are estimated and the results. The chapter shows that a Catholic background has resulted in Catholics acquiring about as much education as non-Catholics. The cohort estimates indicate that some of the ethnic and religious effects on educational attainment have persisted over time. Estimates of educational attainment are also presented by birth cohort for men and women. Probit estimates of the odds that men and women have attained 12 years of schooling and the likelihood they have attained 16 or more years of schooling are also undertaken. The maximum likelihood probit estimates suggest that the relationship between ethnic and religious background and educational attainment is nonsymmetrical in some cases and sex-specific.
