Advances in the Economics of Religion, 1st ed. 2019 International Economic Association Series

This edited collection brings together expertise from around the globe to overview and debate key concepts and concerns in the economics of religion. While the economics of religion is a relatively new field of research in economics, economists have made and continue to make important contributions to the understanding of religion. There is much scope for economists to continue to make a significant contribution to debates about religion, including its implications for conflict, political economy, public goods, demography, education, finance, trade and economic growth. 

1) Introduction

Jean-Paul Carvalho, Sriya Iyer, and Jared Rubin

Part I: Theoretical Advances in the Economics of Religion

2) Religious Clubs: The Strategic Role of Religious Identity

Jean-Paul Carvalho

3) Spatial Models of Religious Market Competition: A Critical Assessment

Michael McBride

4) When Average is Irrelevant: Computational Modeling of Religious Groups

Michael D. Makowsky

5) The Intelligent Design of Religious Beliefs

Gilat Levy

6) Religion and Segregation

Ronny Razin

7) Religious and Cultural Leaders

Anja Prummer

8) Intermediated Social Preferences: Altruism in an Algorithmic Era

Daniel L. Chen

9) Religion and Demography

Sriya Iyer

10) Economics and Church State Research: Past, Present, Future

Dan Hungerman and Timothy Weninger

11) Protestants and Catholics and Educational Investment in Guatemala

Rachel M. McCleary and Robert J. Barro

12) The Religious Factor in Private Education in the United States

Danny Cohen-Zada and Moshe Justman

13) How Luther’s Quest for Education Changed German Economic History: 9+5 Theses on the Effects of the Protestant Reformation

Sascha O. Becker and Ludger Woessmann

14) Hindu-Muslim Violence in India: A Postscript From the 21st Century

Anirban Mitra and Debraj Ray

15) Religion and Conflict: A Quantitative Approach

José G. Montalvo and Marta Reynal-Querol

16) Why are Some Societies More Religious than Others?

Jeanet Sinding Bentzen

Mohamed Saleh

18) Religion and the European Union

Benito Arruñada and Matthias Krapf

Part III: Advances in Religion and Political Economy

19) The Political and Economic Consequences of Religious Legitimacy

Jared Rubin

20) Religious Legitimacy and the Joint Evolution of Culture and Institutions

21) Strategic Interactions between Religion and Politics: the Case of Islam

Jean-Philippe Platteau

22) State and Religion: An Economic Approach

Metin M. Coşgel and Thomas J. Miceli

23) A Great Academic Re-Awakening: The Return to a Political Economy of Religion

Anthony Gill

24) The State, Toleration, and Religious Freedom

Noel Johnson and Mark Koyama

25) Religiosity and Economic Performance: The Role of Personal Liberties

Laura Mayoral and Joan Esteban

26) Causes and Consequences of Monotheism in the Supply of Religion

Murat Iyigun

Eric Chaney

28) Islam, Trade, and Innovation

Alireza Naghavi

Jean-Paul Carvalho is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of California, Irvine, USA.

Sriya Iyer is Janeway Fellow in Economics and Affiliated Lecturer, University of Cambridge, UK; and Bibby Fellow and College Lecturer, St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge. She is the author of The Economics of Religion in India (Harvard University Press, 2018) and Demography and Religion in India (Oxford University Press, 2002).

Jared Rubin is Associate Professor of Economics at the George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics in Chapman University, USA. He is author of Rulers, Religion, and Riches: Why the West Got Rich and the Middle East Did Not (Cambridge University Press, 2017).