The Economics of Religion: Beyond the Protestant Work Ethic - Detailseite

Does religion matter for economic success? Or, rather, does economic success change the salience of religion? For example, Max Weber has argued that a “Protestant Work Ethic” influenced economic success; Kuran (2011) argued that Islamic law hindered economic development, while many others have contested their claims. We will look at the scholarly debate from different angles, drawing upon sociological, economic and historical literature and use historical cases to analyze the interdependence of religion and economics. This course will go beyond Weber’s Protestant Work Ethic thesis and look at examples from different religious contexts in the 19th and 20th centuries. How did religion shape economic institutions in Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist societies? How can outliers, such as the Amish in Pennsylvania, the Hassidic Jews in New York or the Hutterites in the Dakotas, sustain their communities in a modern-day market economy? Finally, we will draw conclusions from historical evidence. How can we capture “religion” empirically? Under which circumstances does religion promote or hinder economic development? Has the “spirit of Capitalism” developed into a universal phenomenon transcending religious denominations? Or is the perception of economic success and failure connected to religious affiliation through the present day?

Barro Barro, Robert J., and Rachel M. McCleary. “Religion and Economic Growth across Countries.” American Sociological Review 68, no. 5 (2003): 760–81.

Iannaccone, Laurence R., Derek Neal, Peter Boettke, and Deirdre N. McCloskey. “The Economics of Religion: A Symposium.” Faith & Economics 46 (2005): 1–23.

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