Driven by institutions, shaped by culture: human capital and the secularization of marriage in Italy

We show that in Italy the legalization of divorce unleashed the forces of secularization, making educated persons more likely to contract a civil instead of a religious marriage. This process, ignited by institutional change, is also shaped by culture: higher social capital or weaker family ties make the choice of civil marriage more responsive to education. These results emerge from both aggregate and individual data, and can be rationalized through a model of religiosity, education and marriage choices. In this framework, the option to divorce increases the relative returns to human capital ‐ thereby increasing the prevalence of civil marriage.