TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kimball,Miles S.
AU  - Mitchell,Colter M.
AU  - Thornton,Arland D.
AU  - Young-Demarco,Linda C.
TI  - Empirics on the Origins of Preferences: The Case of College Major and Religiosity
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15182
PY  - 2009
Y2  - July 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15182
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15182.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Miles S. Kimball
Department of Economics
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1220
Tel: 734/764-2375
Fax: 734/764-2769
E-Mail: mkimball@umich.edu

Colter M. Mitchell
Family Demography
Survey Research Center
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1248
E-Mail: cmsm@umich.edu

Arland D. Thornton
Survey Research Center
2226 ISR, University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1248
E-Mail: arlandt@umich.edu

Linda C. Young-Demarco
Survey Research Center
ISR 2270, University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109-1248
E-Mail: lyoungdm@umich.edu
AB  - Early life experiences are likely to be important for the formation of preferences. Religiosity is a key dimension of preferences, affecting many economic outcomes. This paper examines the effect of college major on religiosity, and the converse effect of religiosity on college major, using panel data from the Monitoring the Future survey as a way of gauging the extent to which various streams of thought, as taught in college, affect religiosity. Two key questions, based on the differences in college experience across majors, are whether either (a) the Scientific worldview or (b) Postmodernism has negative effects on religiosity as these streams of thought are actually transmitted at the college level. The results show a decline in religiosity of students majoring in the social sciences and humanities, but a rise in religiosity for those in education and business. After initial choices, those respondents with high levels of religiosity are more likely to enter college. Of those who are in college, people with high levels of religiosity tend to go into the humanities and education over other majors.
ER  -