TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Hornung, Erik
AU  - Schwerdt, Guido
AU  - Strazzeri, Maurizio
        TI  - Religious Practice and Student Performance: Evidence from Ramadan Fasting
        PY  - 2021/Oct/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 14769
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp14769
        AB  - 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.
        KW  - education
KW  - religion
KW  - religious participation
KW  - Ramadan
KW  - social identity
KW  - social capital
KW  - PISA
KW  - TIMMS
        ER  -