Faithonomics: Religion and the Free Market

Description

Faithonomics uses economic theory to provide a new and unorthodox view of religion in today's world. Drawing on state-of-the-art research and on case studies from around the globe, this book shows that religion should be analysed as a market similar to markets for other goods and services, like bottled water or haircuts. Faithonomics is about today's religious markets, but in sweeping detours through the histories of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, Brekke shows us the religious markets of the past, although these were sometimes heavily regulated by states. He argues that government 'control' over religious markets is often the cause of unforeseen and negative consequences. Many of today's problems related to religion, like religious terrorism or rent-seeking by religious political parties, are easier to understand if we think like economists. Religious markets work best when they are relatively free. Religious organizations should be free to sell their products without unnecessary restrictions, but we have no good reason to grant them privileges in the form of subsidies or tax-breaks. Cover Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: An economic take on religion PART 1: THE MARKET FOR RELIGION 1. Should priests be bribed into laziness? 2. Beer, haircuts and religious services 3. Priests and fighter pilots 4. Faith as social glue: The history of a bad idea PART 2: HISTORY - RELIGIOUS MARKETS IN OTHER TIMES AND PLACES 5. Religious markets in Islam 6. Religious markets in Hinduism 7. Religious markets in Buddhism 8. Religious markets in medieval Catholicism PART 3: THE PRESENT - SEVEN SINS OF GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION 9. Crowding out: When government kills initiative 10. Rent-seeking: Religions jockeying for privilege 11. Monopoly: Nordic state churches and communist repression 12. Discrimination: Women, gay people and God 13. Persecution: States, religions and violence 14. Reification: How states fix religions in space and time 15. Imitation: Why do atheists and Buddhists behave like Christians? Conclusion Notes Index