HUMAN-CAPITAL IN RELIGIOUS COMMUNES - LITERACY AND SELECTION OF 19TH-CENTURY SHAKERS

Membership decisions within Shaker communal societies were influenced by both religious belief and economic incentives. Equal compensation for all members created incentives for low marginal product people to enter and high marginal product people to exit. Marginal productivity is related to human capital, which is expressed here by signature literacy. Initial literacy rates among both men and women were very high. New entrants tended to be less literate than both established Shakers and people in nearby areas. Among established members, by mid-19th century the literate were more likely to exit than the illiterate. Ultimately, the proportion of illiterate members grew at a time of decreasing regional illiteracy, affecting Shaker approaches to business, technology, and worship. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.