Religious affiliation and earnings: Evidence from Brazil

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between wages and religious affiliation for Brazil using conventional human capital earnings functions. Data drawn from the 1991, 2000, and 2010 Brazilian Censuses were analysed for men and women. Our results indicate that Brazilian men (women) who identified as Traditional Protestants received a small wage premium 2.6% (1.4%) compared to those who identified as Catholic—the largest religious denomination in Brazil—even after controlling for a range of demographic and social characteristics. In contrast, Brazilian men (women) who identified as Pentecostal Protestants received a sizeable wage penalty of 4.3% (5.8%). In an effort to explain the wage gap between different religious affiliations in Brazil, we also conducted a conventional Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition.