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Economics and the Reformation

31st October is Reformation Day.  This day is a civic holiday in several countries and is celebrated in certain parts of the church in the US.  On 31st October 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, an event which started the Reformation.  Luther is regarded as one of the most influential men to have lived in the past 500 years - click here to learn more about Luther.


Beginning with Max Weber, economists and economic historians have debated the effect of the Reformation on economic development.  Recently, Sasha Becker (Warwick) has been doing lots of interesting work looking at the economic impact of Luther and the Reformation.  For example, in one of his papers, he shows the positive impact of Luther’s ideas on the female education gap – click here. 

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