Standard economic theory cannot explain why so few Haredi (ultra-orthodox) men attain college degrees in Israel, despite the significant economic returns to such degrees. In addition to economic variables, this article introduces a combination of social and behavioral characteristics, such as religious identity, into the individual choice process. This, in turn, enables us to evaluate a possible trade-off between economic benefits associated with a college degree and the corresponding loss of religious identity in the decision of young ultra-orthodox Israeli men to attain a college degree. In the language of standard economics, we simply ask: What is the economic price Haredi men are willing to pay for their religious beliefs? Utilizing case-control sampling and analysis techniques, we collected retrospective data on Haredi men who study in academic higher education institutes (N = 410) and matched them to Haredi men who do not attend college (N = 310). Our logit econometric model indicates that Haredi men, even those with extreme orthodox beliefs, respond to economic incentives. However, our model indicates that the size of the incentives required to entice academic studies increases with the intensity of religious beliefs.

中文翻译：

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宗教信仰的代价：吸引年轻的哈雷迪人进入世俗学术研究

标准经济理论无法解释为什么在以色列获得大学学位的 Haredi（极端正统派）男性如此之少，尽管这些学位获得了显着的经济回报。除了经济变量外，本文还将社会和行为特征（例如宗教身份）的组合引入到个人选择过程中。反过来，这使我们能够评估与大学学位相关的经济利益与极端正统的以色列青年决定获得大学学位时相应的宗教身份丧失之间的可能权衡。用标准经济学的语言，我们简单地问：Haredi 人愿意为他们的宗教信仰支付的经济价格是多少？利用病例对照抽样和分析技术，我们收集了在高等教育机构学习的 Haredi 男性的回顾性数据 (N = 410)，并将其与未上过大学的 Haredi 男性 (N = 310) 进行匹配。我们的 logit 计量经济学模型表明 Haredi 男性，即使是那些具有极端正统信仰的男性，也会对经济激励做出反应。然而，我们的模型表明，吸引学术研究所需的激励措施的大小随着宗教信仰的强度而增加。