The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Religion

Description

This is a one-of-kind volume bringing together leading scholars in the economics of religion for the first time. The treatment of topics is interdisciplinary, comparative, as well as global in nature. Scholars apply the economics of religion approach to contemporary issues such as immigrants in the United States and ask historical questions such as why did Judaism as a religion promote investment in education? The economics of religion applies economic concepts (for example, supply and demand) and models of the market to the study of religion. Advocates of the economics of religion approach look at ways in which the religion market influences individual choices as well as institutional development. For example, economists would argue that when a large denomination declines, the religion is not supplying the right kind of religious good that appeals to the faithful. Like firms, religions compete and supply goods. The economics of religion approach using rational choice theory, assumes that all human beings, regardless of their cultural context, their socio-economic situation, act rationally to further his/her ends. The wide-ranging topics show the depth and breadth of the approach to the study of religion. Contents List of Contributors PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. The Economics of Religion as a Field of Inquiry PART II: RELIGION AND HUMAN CAPITAL 2. Religion, Human Capital Investments, and the Family in the United States 3. Religious Norms, Human Capital, and Money Lending in Jewish European History 4. Islam and Human Capital Formation: Evidence from Premodern Muslim Science 5. The Effects of the Protestant Reformation on Human Capital 6. Religion and the Spread of Human Capital and Political Institutions: Christian Missions as a Quasi-Natural Experiment PART III: THE NATURE OF RELIGIOUS ECONOMIES 7. Toward Better Measures of Supply and Demand for Testing Theories of Religious Participation 8. Immigrants, Migration, and Religious Economies 9. On the (Lack of) Stability of Communes: An Economic Perspective 10. The Economics of Sainthood (A Preliminary Investigation) 11. On the Socioeconomic Consequences of Religious Strife and Coexistence PART IV: REGULATION OF THE RELIGION MARKET 12. Religion under Communism: State Regulation, Atheist Competition, and the Dynamics of Supply and Demand 13. Rethinking the Study of Religious Markets 14. Religion and Civil Liberties in the United States 15. Secularization and Economic Models of Religious Behavior PART V: ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF RELIGION 16. The Political Economy of the Medieval Church 17. Funding the Faiths: Toward a Theory of Religious Finance PART VI: DATA SETS ON RELIGION 18. Data and Directions for Research in the Economics of Religion 19. International Religious Demography: An Overview of Sources and Methodology Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z