The Effect of Catholic Education on Economic Ideology

Abstract

Religious adherence, church attendance, and economic ideology have long been intertwined. We discuss the compatibility between Catholic doctrine and individual-based free market systems and then examine the effect of Catholic school attendance on an individual’s belief in and support for a capitalist economic system. Using individual level survey data, we find a positive relationship between attendance at Catholic schools and capitalist ideology as measured by an index that contrasts individual versus government action and responsibility in the economy. While attendance at Catholic school is associated with a stronger emphasis on individual, rather than governmental, responsibility in the economy, the effect is driven largely by Catholic high school or college attendance, reflecting an increased exposure to Catholic faith during the formative years of late adolescence.

1. Introduction

Religious beliefs, church attendance, and economic ideology have long been intertwined, appearing in Weber’s Protestant work ethic hypothesis (Weber 1956) and more recent refutations and nuanced discussions (Guiso et al. 2003), but both church attendance (J. M. Jones 2021) and support for capitalism (Knight 2019) are in decline. The work presented here discusses the compatibility of Catholic doctrine and individual-based free market systems, broadly labeled as capitalism, and then examines the relationship between attending Catholic school and this economic ideology.

Christian/Catholic views on wealth, property, freedom, markets, and economic systems have evolved since the first century AD. While Jesus, the apostles, and the early church fathers caution that wealth and greed can have a negative impact on spirituality, property and possessions are not considered evil in themselves. In fact, property and wealth are gifts from God that can be used to alleviate poverty (The New Jerusalem Bible 1985). Later, as the persecutions of the early church subsided and the state began to favor Christianity, the church was forced to reckon with secular views of work, freedom, and markets. While still cautioning against the “love of money”, church teachings from 400–1200 AD generally favored trade, the profit motive, “just” pricing, and a lack of government intervention in the economy. Concerning the comparison of economic systems, Catholic Popes have generally come out in favor of capitalism and against socialism given that the free market system seems the best at alleviating poverty. To the extent that Catholic schooling reflects church teaching, students who attend Catholic schools are expected be exposed to a pro-capitalistic ideology.

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between Catholic schooling and personal commitment to capitalist ideology. Using individual level survey data, we find a positive relationship between having attended Catholic school and agreement with capitalist ideology, as measured by responses to survey items regarding individual versus government action and responsibility in the economy. While attendance at Catholic school is associated with a stronger emphasis on individual, rather than governmental, responsibility in the economy, the effect is driven by an increased exposure to the Catholic faith during the formative years of late adolescence—in other words, during Catholic high school or college attendance.

2. Background

Using Rodney Stark’s definition, capitalism is “an economic system wherein privately owned, relatively well organized, and stable firms pursue complex commercial activities within a relatively free (unregulated) market, taking a systematic, long-term approach to investing and reinvesting wealth (directly or indirectly) in productive activities involving a hired workforce, and guided by anticipated and actual returns” (Stark 2005).1 In other words, a capitalistic economic system, as opposed to a socialistic economic system, relies on free individuals using private assets and labor to seek returns through productive activity. Government intervention in capitalist systems is minimal and is reserved to providing public goods (such as defense and law enforcement activities), to stifling monopolistic behavior that restricts the free entry of firms into the marketplace (i.e., rent-seeking behavior), and to stepping in when productive activity hurts society (e.g., pollution).

The relationship between church doctrine and economic systems is complex and to trace Catholic thought through the last two thousand years is beyond the scope of this paper. However, we provide a broad background of Catholic church teaching on property, wealth, and economic systems through the select writings of Saint Augustine of Hippo, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and of two modern Popes: Pope Leo XII and Pope John Paul II. These writings move from affirming the duty to provide aid to the poor, to the duty to act justly in business dealings, and, finally, to the adoption of free market concepts, with minimal government involvement, related to capitalism.

Prior to the conversion of Constantine (312 AD) and the Edict of Milan (313 AD), church history was dotted by persecutions (both localized and statewide). Church debates centered around theological issues (for instance, the Trinity) and practical issues including the church position concerning believers who denied the faith during the harsh persecutions but wanted to return to the church afterwards (i.e., the “Lapsed”). During these early times, the life of the church was generally local with ties to the larger churches in the region when matters of faith were debated.2

In terms of teaching, the church generally focused on personal salvation and personal duties to God and neighbor. Concerning issues related to wealth and property, the church taught that God owns all resources and that Christians are to be stewards of wealth and provide alms for the poor and care for widows and orphans.3 For example, Irenaeus of Lyons (130–200 AD) stated that Christ “prohibited anger; and instead of the law enjoining the giving of tithes, [He told us] to share all our possessions with the poor; and not to love our neighbors only, but even our enemies; and not merely to be liberal givers and bestowers, but even that we should present a gratuitous gift to those who take away our goods” (Roberts and Donaldson 1965–1969).4 This statement is an example of the church emphasizing individual care for the poor rather than collective action.

In additional to providing for others with their wealth, Christians, based on 1 Timothy 6:10, are tasked with watching over their souls, because greed could ensnare Christians away from God (The New Jerusalem Bible 1985). Around 258 AD, Cyprian of Carthage said “A blind love of one’s own property has deceived many; nor could they be prepared for, or at ease in, departing when their wealth fettered them like a chain. Those were the chain to them that remained—those were the bonds by which both virtue was retarded, and faith burdened, and the spirit bound, and the soul hindered” (Roberts and Donaldson 1965–1969).5

The Edict of Milan (313 AD), which ended state and local persecutions of Christians, showcases a view of property in Roman culture that moved beyond personal duties to others. In particular, the Edict commanded the return of all property confiscated during the persecution of the early church under the emperors Decius, Valerian, and Diocletian.6

Thus, while the fourth century Christian church had found a great ally in the state, the idea of private property began to change as Roman ideas permeated the church. Stark notes this timing: “soon after the conversion of Constantine, the church ceased to be dominated by ascetics, and attitudes toward commerce began to mellow” (Stark 2005, p. 57).

One of the great theologians of the early church is Saint Augustine of Hippo (354–430). Known for his keen theological insights and his controversy with Pelagius over the doctrine of original sin, Augustine also fostered a basic understanding of markets and the role of government in society. He argued that man’s chief goal is to pursue happiness, and the Christian’s happiness is found in God, particularly in the world to come; however, he acknowledged that there are “good things” in this life that are common to both Christians and non-Christians (Schaff 2004).7 These goods derive value based not only on producer costs but also on the value attached to the goods by the buyers who desire to enhance their utility: “a person who evaluates according to reason has far more freedom of choice than one who is driven by want or drawn by passion” (Schaff 2004).8 Of course, this consideration is a precursor to modern utility theory and is conditioned on market freedom in, what we call today, economic decision making.

Essential to his views on the state and on commerce were his views on human nature; Augustine viewed humankind as inherently flawed and sinful. Augustine believed that the “state was willed by God and was primarily necessary because of the existence of evil persons who had to be controlled” (O’Neil 2003). While there was a great potential for deceit in trading, the issue was not inherent to commerce but was the responsibility of those engaged in business. Commerce provides goods that improve the lives of others, and profit is simply compensation for the service of bringing the good to market (Schaff 2004).9 To summarize Augustine’s contributions, humans are given freedom to pursue their happiness through trade, and governments are designed to dampen the evils of human nature.

Skipping centuries of the development of economic thought, we now consider Thomas Aquinas’ (1275–1274) contributions. Aquinas, heavily influenced by Aristotle’s concept of justice and markets, developed two main types of justice: communicative and distributive. Distributive justice concerns the relations between society as a whole and the private individual. Society is often represented by people, such as princes, officers, etc., who, by reason of their social position, are superior to the private individual. On the other hand, communicative justice regulates the relations of things to private individuals who are considered equal as individuals and not in relation to the whole (Baldwin 1959, p. 62).

Business transactions were matters of communicative justice, in which two individuals traded voluntarily and reciprocally. The price of trade, or the “just price”, is the mutually agreed upon, noncoercive price that is available to all potential buyers (no price discrimination) (Stark 2005, p. 65). In addition, profits were compensation for labor and transportation costs, the care of the good, and the risk bearing that faced the entrepreneur (Baldwin 1959). In addition, Aquinas allowed for property holdings on the condition that the control of property did not exceed legitimate needs (Smyth 1948).

In addition to allowing profits, Aquinas conceived of market transactions and even an early form of a competitive market structure. Consumers value a good based on the utility received at the prevailing price and sellers sell the good if the price is above cost (which is the long-run price). If consumers do not value the good at the prevailing price, the price falls and some producers will leave the market (Baldwin 1959). While Aquinas “seemed relatively uninterested in speculating about the best form of government” (O’Neil 2003), he generally favored property rights, free commerce, the profit motive, and honesty in transactions.

Over the next several centuries, the church moved beyond freedom and personal duty in trades, to consideration of economic systems. Given that the theories of Marx (1818–1883) and Engels (1820–1895) were gaining tremendous popularity, the Catholic church needed to clarify its stance on the market system. In 1891, Pope Leo XII’s Rerum Novarum points out the issues associated with socialism that will cause the entire system to fail, should it be implemented. He stated:

The door would be thrown open to envy, to mutual invective, and to discord; the sources of wealth themselves would run dry, for no one would have any interest in exerting his talents or his industry; and that ideal equality about which they entertain pleasant dreams would be in reality the levelling down of all to a like condition of misery and degradation.

(LEO XIII 1891, p. 15)

In other words, a socialist system violates the right to private property and diminishes personal innovation, as individuals have no incentive for productive capacity. This violation ultimately leads to a diminished society and a low standard of living for all.

Nearly a century later, and drawing on a long line of Papal statements, Pope John Paul II’s Centesimus Annus argued that the freedom to engage in economic activity is a fundamental human right given and that humans are called to be creative. Restricting this freedom impoverishes countries and the human beings that make up those countries (John Paul II 1991, p. 13). Fundamentally, a socialistic system kills the creative spirit and, thus, humanity itself. Pope John Paul II goes on to state that socialist systems teach a person to hate his neighbor for the wealth that person has accumulated.

Booth (2009) addressed these Papal statements by concluding that a free market economy helps to harness the productive capacity of a society through markets. When self-interest becomes exaggerated, the market system prevents abuses far more than a society built with centralized power, and while a free market system allows for the flourishing of a society, Christians should conduct market-related activities with honesty and virtue. “As consumers, business owners or managers, we should regard the exercise of economic freedom, a crucial aspect of our God-given dignity, as an aspect of the exercise of true freedom to seek and do what is right” (Booth 2009, p. 65). In other words, the Catholic perspective on economics is simply a balance between freedom, on the one hand, and the desire for human dignity on the other as concluded by (Zdun and Fel 2017). While the Catholic church has certainly tackled some social issues by advocating government interventions, the umbrella of Catholic teaching on economic systems is an appreciation human creativity, private property, freedom, mutually advantageous trade, and limited government.

A remaining question concerns what Catholics actually believe about free markets, and the matter was explored by Guiso et al. (2003). Using the World Values Survey, they found that, compared to other Christian denominations, Catholics are more supportive of private property rights and economic competition but are more willing to accept a bribe. In addition, Catholic attitudes are conducive toward economic growth. These results are supported by Jones et al. (2019), who found that persons of any Christian affiliation are more likely to have pro-market views. Paradoxically, however, Jones et al. also found that respondents with Christian parents are less pro-market than respondents with agnostic or atheist parents.

These findings emphasize the importance of considering, or at least controlling for, individual belief development as adolescents question the beliefs of parents (their conferred identity) and begin to form their own constructed identify (Marcia 1993). Erikson (1968) postulated that adolescents are often concerned with how they are viewed by others; thus, they typically adopt the ideals of their role models. This search for role modeling aligns with Catholic education’s emphasis on interpersonal relationships and affective educations (Ognibene 2015). However, during this search period and questioning, an adolescent may decide that he or she cannot trust certain individuals or belief sets and cast those views aside. Thus, this paper examines the effect of educational experience, specifically Catholic school attendance, during these critical years on later-life beliefs and economic ideologies.

3. History of Catholic Education in the United States

The Catholic Church is the largest non-government education provider in the world (Wodon 2021) and operates the largest network of private schools in the United States.10 The origins of Catholic education in the United States include great sacrifices made by many, such as sister-teachers who braved long journeys, hostile environments, and austere conditions to set up the early schools. However, physical conditions were not the only barrier to establishing Catholic schools. Prior to the American Revolution, institutions of Catholic higher education were deemed illegal in the thirteen colonies (Rizzi 2018). Following independence, these restrictions were lowered, and shortly thereafter, the first three Catholic colleges in the United States were established: Georgetown College (1789), St. Mary’s Seminary (1791), and Mount St. Mary’s College (1808).

Rizzi (2018) divided the historical development of Catholic higher education in the United States into five broad eras. During the Frontier Period (1789–1862), the primary mission of Catholic colleges was to provide access to education to underserved populations. In the Morrill Act/Land-Grant Period (1862–1920s), the mission shifted to preserving the religious and cultural foundations of Catholic immigrants while also assisting them in obtaining education that would allow them to assimilate along economic dimensions. The Inter-War Period (1920s–1945) expanded opportunities for women to attend Catholic colleges, first at Marquette University where sisters were allowed to attend weekend courses. Today, other than seminaries, all-male Catholic colleges no longer exist in the United States. The GI Bill Period (1945–1967) brought a dramatic increase in enrollments due to educational funds made available to WWII veterans. Finally, the Land O’Lakes Period (1967–present) is marked by a document drafted by leading Catholic university presidents in a Wisconsin retreat that outlines specific ways that Catholic universities can maintain broader professional standards of higher education while maintaining a Catholic mission.11 These include “promoting theological scholarship, encouraging interdisciplinary dialogue (especially with theology), emphasizing undergraduate formation, serving the Church and the less fortunate, and providing a nurturing environment for student to grow intellectually as well as spiritually” (Rizzi 2018).

Catholic parochial school growth peaked in the mid-1960′s when there were more than 5.7 million children in parish elementary schools. This represented fully 12 percent of all United States children enrolled in schools at the time (Walch 2001). For the academic year 2016–2017, total Catholic elementary/middle school and high school enrolment was 1,878,824 across 6429 schools.12 As of the latest reporting by the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, there are about 250 Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States, with about 700,000 enrolled students in 2019–2020.13 Estimates vary, but between 40% (Wodon 2022) and 60% (USCCB) of undergraduate students self-identify as Catholic. Students choose Catholic colleges and universities based on factors such as institutional size, research opportunities, internships, and job placement, as well as religious affiliation (Wodon 2022). However, it is assumed that Catholic education will influence students’ academic, moral, and spiritual formation, and some empirical evidence to this effect does exist (Lapsley and Kelley 2022).

In the earliest era of Catholic higher education in the United States, theological instruction was mostly confined to seminaries in the form of professional training for priests. Catholic colleges, in contrast, focused on a curriculum called the Ratio Studiorum, which focused more heavily on classical languages and philosophy (Rizzi 2018). Later, in the Morill Act/Land-Grant Era and the Inter-War Years, theology courses were introduced under a new interdisciplinary paradigm called Neo-Thomism or Neo-Scholasticism. Named after Thomas Aquinas and the Scholastic Theologians of the early second century AD, this curriculum placed an emphasis on reason and Aristotelian philosophy. Critics of this approach worried that secular philosophy would replace Catholic theological teaching.

Indeed, at primary, secondary, and higher education levels, many authors note the variation from one region, diocese, and parish to the next regarding the balance of religious and secular content, even though most would agree that Catholic moral instruction is an important part of the curriculum (e.g., (Walch 2001)). Spanning the two sides of this tension are others, such as Heft (2021, p. 128) who stated a Catholic university “is neither secular nor sectarian. It is not secular because it affirms the importance of the religious realm as an area of scholarship. It is not sectarian because an integral part of being Catholic is seeking truth wherever it can be found.”

The mission and method of Catholic schools are not the only matters of debate in Catholic educational institutions; the teachers themselves are also confronted with the relationship between faith and the profession of teaching. Some authors note that Catholic school teachers are not adequately equipped to teach their faith, as many teachers are educated in secular universities (Roberts and O’Shea 2022). In fact, Cho (2012) and Convey (2014) confirmed that teachers motivated primarily by teaching as a ministry are the most committed to Catholic educational institutions. This has led to various proposed models for the integration of personal faith with the professional life (Fussell 2021).

Despite the varied balance of religious and secular education in Catholic schools, there is little doubt that from the beginning of Catholic education in the United States, the establishment of parochial schools has been based on an “unwavering belief that the education of children is the primary responsibility of family and the Church, not the government” (Walch 2001, p. 46). Said another way, Catholic education came coupled with the deeply held value that the formation of educational institutions and selection of the curriculum was an independent endeavor, free to borrow from advances in science and the professions outside the Catholic religion but not dependent on governments to make these choices for them. In contrast, common public schools started from the assumption that the state should own the task of education (Walch 1996).

To conclude this section, we note that Catholic schools vary in their curricular embrace of Catholic theology and that Catholic teachings may emphasize both social issues (helping the poor) and capitalist (free markets and small governments) ideology. While all Catholics have likely encountered the duty of helping the poor, the distinguishing factor for an overall commitment to Catholic teaching is the extent to which a person embraces government involvement in that work. Booth, in his defense of capitalism from a Catholic perspective, stated “it is a fundamental error to conflate the role of the political system in seeking to help the poor through redistribution with that of people acting spontaneously out of charity” (Booth 2009, p. 65). Thus, in our analysis below, a commitment to Catholic teaching on capitalism will emphasize a lack of government intervention and a commitment to personal economic action.

4. Survey and Data

To examine the effect of exposure to Catholic schooling on economic ideology, we leverage anonymous, individual-level survey data from Jones et al. (2019) and a modified version of the Capitalism Index from Hadsell et al. (2013). Two rounds of survey data were collected, the first in December of 2015 and the second in June of 2016 using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk program, mTurk. Amazon’s program is a microtask website used to match remote “workers” with “requesters” to complete small tasks that can be completed in a remote environment. Completing surveys is one such task. Amazon mTurk allows for a wider subject pool and more diversity in respondents than traditional convenience samples (Mason and Suri 2012). After dropping responses that failed an attention check, were insufficiently complete, or where respondents indicated they rushed or responses were unreliable, the two survey rounds yielded 2404 responses.14

While the survey was not initially designed to investigate Catholic schooling, survey items pertaining to primary guardian affiliation, attendance by school type, etc. allow us to proxy for Catholic schooling experience and its relationship to economic ideologies. We assume that respondents who attended religious school, and who indicated their primary guardian was Catholic, attended a Catholic school. The combination of a Catholic primary guardian (735 responses) and having attended a religious school (793 responses) yielded 382 respondents we interpret as having attended Catholic school.

In addition to proxying for Catholic school attendance, we use an index of latent economic ideology using Likert-type responses to ten statements about respondents’ beliefs such as whether people are poor because of their own actions and whether the government should ensure all people are provided with housing. The index is created by summing numeric coding for Likert-type responses with a scale of 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. Of the ten statements, three are worded such that agreeing with the statement aligns with a more capitalist, or free market, view of the economy, and seven are worded such that agreement aligns with a more interventionist view. The seven interventionist-oriented statements are reverse-coded such that summing responses to all ten statements yields a scale with larger values indicating a more capitalist view.15 A full list of statements is presented in

Table 1. Capitalism index scale items.

“Please Indicate Your Level of Agreement with the Following Statements:”
	Strongly Agree	Agree	Slightly Agree	Neutral	Slightly Disagree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Statements
1.	If people are poor, it is mostly because of their own actions
2.	The price of pharmaceutical drugs should be regulated by the government. *
3.	Within the US, at birth, everyone has an opportunity to become rich.
4.	Tax money should NOT be used to subsidize the development of technologies designed to be environmentally friendly
5.	People with high incomes and wealth should be heavily taxed.*
6.	The government should ensure that all people are provided with basic housing. *
7.	The government should provide benefits and training to help the unemployed get back on their feet. *
8.	The government should help the poor. *
9.	Healthcare is a basic human right that must be guaranteed by the government. *
10.	High levels of income inequality are bad for society. *

* Items are reverse-coded prior to index aggregation such that a higher value represents a more capitalist view. The index is created by summing numeric coding for Likert-type responses with a scale of 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree.

, while

Table 2. Capitalism index by religious school attendance.

	N	Capitalism Index Mean	Std. Dev.	Min.	Max.
Full Sample	2404	29.33	11.12	10	69
Non-Catholic Primary Guardian	1670	29.48	11.40	10	67
Catholic Primary Guardian	734	28.98	10.46	10	69
Respondent Left Catholicism	394	26.54	10.18	10	64
Respondent Stayed in Catholicism	340	31.81	10.08	10	69
Did not attend religious school	141	30.37	8.98	10	57
Attended religious school	193	32.91	10.74	11	69
At least attended religious school in:
Grade School	138	31.60	10.28	11	68
Middle School	122	31.72	10.96	11	68
High School	93	32.28	11.64	11	69
College	39	34.38	8.27	19	52
ONLY attended religious school in:
Grade School	28	33.11	9.57	16	56
Middle School	9	33.78	11.57	18	57
High School	17	38.35	13.77	19	69
College	22	35.77	7.01	22	48

presents the capitalism index for the sample and subsamples.

5. Survey Analysis and Discussion

To the extent the Catholic doctrine is compatible with free market views, as discussed above, additional exposure to the faith, such as attending a Catholic school, should increase an individual’s sympathy toward a free market system that deemphasizes government involvement, as measured by the Capitalism Index (CI) described above. To examine variation in economic ideology, we compare subgroup CI averages in Figure 1 starting with the complete sample and subsequently parsed the sample to compare respondents who were raised by a Catholic primary guardian and who identified as Catholic by whether they attended religious school. Each subgroup was compared using a t-test of subgroup CI means. Arrows between boxes in Figure 1 show the difference in subgroups’ CI mean and a t-value shown below. Asterisks on the differences indicate statistical significance, with * indicating a 90% confidence interval, ** indicating 95% confidence, and *** indicating a 99% confidence level.

Interestingly, there is no statistical CI differences between respondents who grew up with a Catholic primary guardian (CI = 28.98) versus those who did not (CI = 29.48). However, Catholic “remainers”, respondents who grew up with Catholic primary guardians and who still identify as Catholic, provided more capitalist responses (CI = 31.81) than “leavers”, respondents who grew up with Catholic primary guardians but who no longer identify as Catholic (CI = 26.54). Catholic remainers’ capitalism scores were roughly 20% higher than leavers, equivalent to a half a standard deviation in the full sample and, thus, a modestly higher score. The difference in CI scores for remainers versus leavers likely reflects the remainers acceptance of Catholic dogma, compatible with a capitalist system, whereas leavers have rejected the Catholic beliefs, including the emphasis on the private property and the individual that are foundational to capitalist ideology.

Further sub-setting the sample, we divide the remainers, those who identify as Catholic and whose primary guardian was Catholic, into those who attended religious school versus those who did not attend religious school. Among Catholic remainers, having attended religious school leads to a CI score that is approximately 8% higher than Catholic remainers who did not attend religious school, a statistically significant difference. These results warrant further investigation into whether the quantity or level of school attended is associated with respondent ideologies.

Erikson’s (1968) seminal work on identity suggests that individuals develop their identity, including political and economic ideologies, during adolescence, and Marcia (1993) went farther, suggesting that individuals in late adolescence move from their conferred identity to a “constructed” identity. While a full review of the identity development literature is beyond the score of this article, the field’s discussion of when identity is formed suggests that not all education levels will have the same effect on an individual’s later life ideologies. Thus, we break out Catholic school attendance by school level and present the results in Figure 2.16

Figure 2 presents three variations on the comparison of Catholic school attendance for remainers. In the middle of Figure 2 is the CI for Catholic remainers who never attended any Catholic school (CI = 30.37). The first comparison is the against Catholic remainers who at attended at least one level of Catholic school (CI = 32.91); this comparison is the same as the one at the bottom of Figure 1. However, the binary (yes/no) nature of having attended Catholic school obscures the potential exposure effects, how long or many Catholic schools the respondent attended, and timing effects when the respondent attended Catholic school. The left side of Figure 2 presents comparisons for how many levels of Catholic school were attended, while the right side of Figure 2 presents comparisons of CI based on which level was attended.

Examining the CI levels for remainers by the number of school levels attended, potentially one through four levels, is an admittedly crude proxy for exposure levels to Catholic education, but our data do not contain the total number, nor specificity, of years in which the respondent attended Catholic school. For example, attending two years of Catholic grade school counts as one level, while attending a year of Catholic grade school and a year of Catholic middle school counts as two levels, because the respondent attended at least some Catholic school during two different levels of school. Nevertheless, a pattern begins to emerge when examining respondents’ CIs by number of levels. The left side of Figure 2 suggests attending one level of Catholic school is associated with stronger, and significantly different, CI scores than having never attended Catholic school. On the other hand, CI scores for those attending multiple levels of Catholic school are stronger, but not significantly different, than CI scores for respondents who never attended Catholic school.

Taken on their own, these results may suggest a diminishing effect and even a negative marginal effect of additional Catholic education. However, the number of levels attended, and which levels were attended are not randomly distributed across the sample, with respondents who attended Catholic grade school more likely to attend additional levels than those who first attended Catholic school above the grade school level. While the left side breakout suggests that attending Catholic school may be associated with higher CI scores, the similar CI score between respondents with a large exposure and those who never attended Catholic school suggests that higher CI scores maybe be driven by the timing of exposure rather than the duration.

For the 2021–2022 school year, enrollment in Catholic primary schools was slightly more than double the enrollment in Catholic high schools (National Catholic Education Association 2022). Our sample follows a similar pattern with significantly more respondents indicating they attended Catholic primary school; 154 respondents compared to 93 respondents indicated they attended Catholic high school. Further, of those indicating they attended Catholic high school, 82% indicated they also attended some level of Catholic primary school; respondents with a larger number of levels attended were likely exposed to Catholic schooling at a younger age. However, Erikson (Erikson 1968) and much of the psychological literature suggested that individuals question beliefs and form their own ideologies in late adolescence. Thus, it is likely necessary to examine when an individual attended Catholic school to identify the relationship between schooling and CI scores.

Following these considerations, the right side of Figure 2 presents CI scores for respondents who only attended one level of Catholic school versus those who never attended Catholic school.17 While respondents for each level of school have a higher CI than for those who did not attend Catholic school, only high school and college attendees have a significantly higher CI score. These results suggest that the impact of Catholic schooling on later life CI scores is mostly pronounced in the formative years of high school and college. Respondents attending only Catholic high school have CI scores 26% higher than respondents who never attended Catholic School, and respondents only attending Catholic college have CI scores 18% higher. These results have implications beyond simply how Catholic education influences economic ideology; they suggest that the propagation of Catholic beliefs may be most effective through religious education during high school and college years, a finding in contrast to the most popular level of Catholic education, primary education.

Finally, because the discussion above focuses on Catholics respondents who were raised by a Catholic primary guardian, (i.e., “remainers”), it may be instructive to look at the relationship between Catholic education and the CI for non-Catholics who were raised by Catholic primary guardians, (i.e., “leavers”). The relationships between Catholic education and CI, as estimated through a regression analysis, is presented as

Table 3. Regression results for capitalism index and Catholic education by remainer (REM) versus leaver (LV).

Dependent Variable: Ln Capitalism Index	REM 1	REM 2	LV 3	LV 4
Attended Religious Sch.	2.569 **		−1.960 *
	(2.43)		(−1.90)
Only Level Attended
Grade school only		3.246 *		−1.344
		(1.66)		(−0.84)
Middle school only		3.868		−3.532
		(1.03)		(−0.99)
High school only		7.282 **		0.393
		(2.06)		(0.14)
College only		5.950 ***		−0.763
		(3.27)		(−0.23)
Female	−4.042 ***	−3.211 **	−2.008 *	−2.144
	(−3.50)	(−2.42)	(−1.87)	(−1.64)
Age	−0.0151	0.135	0.200 ***	0.218 ***
	(−0.23)	(1.61)	(3.55)	(3.15)
Ethnicity	✓	✓	✓	✓
Employment Status	✓	✓	✓	✓
Intercept	34.61 ***	19.20 ***	23.07 ***	24.54 ***
	(6.12)	(2.82)	(4.18)	(4.38)
N	340	223	394	283
R2	0.080	0.171	0.102	0.133

t-statistics in parentheses. * p < 0.1, ** p < 0.05, and *** p < 0.01.

(instead of the diagram format, as in Figure 2).

Four different models are analyzed with a natural log of the capitalism index, CI, as the dependent variable in each model. For remainers, model REM 1 regresses the CI on whether or not respondents attended any Catholic schooling, while model REM 2 regresses CI on the actual level of Catholic school attended. For leavers, models LV 3 and LV 4 follow the same procedure, respectively.

Interestingly, some Catholic education is positively associated with CI for those who remain in the faith (see model REM 1), the opposite relationship compared to those who leave the faith (see model LV 3). This difference is visible as a positive coefficient on attended religious school for remainers and a negative coefficient on attended religious school for leavers. The opposing relationships may suggest that those who were more exposed to the Catholic teachings through schooling rather than only through their home life tend toward a stronger relationship with the faith, either acceptance or rejection. Interesting, though, the level of school or point in time when they were exposed does not appear to matter for the negative relationship of leavers, as shown by the lack of significance on any of the education level variables in column 4.

Additionally interesting from these models is that women who remain in the Catholic church have significantly lower CI scores than men even after controlling for Catholic educational attainment and other demographic variables. In addition, older persons who have left the Catholic church have stronger views toward capitalism than younger persons who have left the church, although the overall impact is relatively small in magnitude.

6. Conclusions

Historically, Catholic theology has emphasized individual freedom, responsibility, and action in the proper ownership and moral use of economic goods. This responsibility includes caring for oneself and one’s family, as well as alleviating needs among the poor and less fortunate. The economic system most closely aligned with this perspective is capitalism, which embraces relatively free, unregulated markets, private property, and the pursuit of economic returns through productive activity. Our research offers support for this alignment. In particular, we discovered that, among respondents who grew up with Catholic guardians, those who continue in the faith expressed stronger agreement with capitalist principles than those who no longer identify as Catholic. This is consistent with research that shows that, in general, persons of any Christian denomination are increasingly sympathetic to free markets compared to non-Christians (Jones et al. 2019) and that Catholics, in particular, embrace capitalistic teaching compared to Christians in other denominations (Guiso et al. 2003). In addition, our work extends in a more specific context prior empirical research, demonstrating the link between religion and economic attitudes (Iyer 2016).

The question that this paper addresses is whether these Catholic beliefs are passed on to children in Catholic families and to children who attend Catholic schools. Catholic schools provide a unique educational experience for students by combining traditional academic studies with at least some level of training in the Catholic belief system. To the degree that Catholic education aligns with markers of economic freedom, one would expect that students would leave Catholic schools with a greater understanding of, and perhaps a greater appreciation of, the capitalist economic system. Our research also offers support for this relationship. Among respondents who grew up with Catholic guardians and continue to identify as Catholic, the degree of agreement with capitalist ideology among those who had attended religious school was statistically higher than it was for those who had not attended religious school. This effect was especially pronounced among those who had attended religious school at the high school and college levels. Catholic education, it appears, has its greatest impact on the formation of economic views when it occurs during the developmental period of late adolescence.

Similar to the broader educational landscape today, Catholic education in the United States faces important challenges in the days and years ahead. Among these are declining enrollments, rising operating costs and tuition, and to some extent, perceptions of parents and students of Catholic institutions (Wodon 2021). Determining the appropriate balance between the secular and the moral and spiritual development of students is likely to be an ongoing concern. Ognibene (Ognibene 2015) highlighted the convergence of Catholic curriculum and public school curriculums starting in the 1940s, beginning with the short lived, life adjustment education, and followed by discipline centered curriculum reform (Wodon 2021). Nevertheless, the “Mission and Catholic Identity” remain an important part of catholic education.

The future impact of Catholic education on economic views rests heavily on individual Catholic schools, as well as the larger Catholic church. Although a Catholic background and Catholic schooling tend to increase individual free market viewpoints, as noted earlier, Catholic educators vary in their preparation to teach the moral and spiritual elements of their faith. Similarly, these educators, and perhaps even Catholic educational institutions themselves, embrace differing economic perspectives. Promoting viewpoints on capitalism that are held by the church and then adequately explored in Catholic schools would constitute a relatively deliberate strategy to solidifying the training of educators and students. However, Catholic schools have the unique opportunity to simultaneously engage in true intellectual discourse over both spiritual and secular matters. A more productive approach may be for Catholic educators to fully consider the balance between creativity, freedom, and the duties to human dignity (Zdun and Fel 2017). Educators who can clearly articulate the Catholic viewpoint, based on the teachings of the church, and fairly compare it to other economic viewpoints will be one of the most valuable resources in the Catholic education system.