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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Religion, Longevity, And Cooperation: The Case Of The Craft Guild, Gary Richardson
Religion, Longevity, And Cooperation: The Case Of The Craft Guild, Gary Richardson
Gary Richardson
Whenthe mortality rate is high, repeated interaction alonemaynot sustain cooperation, and religion may play an important role in shaping economic institutions. This insight explains why during the fourteenth century, when plagues decimated populations and the church promoted the doctrine of purgatory, guilds that bundled together religious and occupational activities dominated manufacturing and commerce. During the sixteenth century, the disease environment eased, and the Reformation dispelled the doctrine of purgatory, necessitating the development of new methods of organizing industry. The logic underlying this conclusion has implications for the study of institutions, economics, and religion throughout history and in the developing world …
Social Insurance, Commitment, And The Origin Of Law: Interest Bans In Early Christianity, Jared Rubin
Social Insurance, Commitment, And The Origin Of Law: Interest Bans In Early Christianity, Jared Rubin
Economics Faculty Articles and Research
Despite the historical importance of ideology-based, economically inhibitive laws, we know little about the economic factors underlying their origin. This paper accounts for the historical emergence of one such law: the Christian ban on taking interest--a doctrine that shaped the evolution of numerous financial contracts and related organizational forms. A game-theoretic analysis and historical evidence suggest that the Church's commitment to providing social insurance for its poorest constituents encouraged risky borrowing, which the Church attempted to limit by banning interest. The analysis highlights the applicability of the rational choice framework to seemingly irrational actions and laws, the role of nonmonetary …