In this paper, I argue that religion matters for the emergence of democracies and dictatorships. Religion is defined as demand for public goods. Different types of religious collectives reflect different tradeoffs between centralized resource distribution and market rewards. Religions are...

This paper explores the impact of antiquity on capitalism through the finance-growth nexus. We define antiquity as the length of established statehood (i.e., state history) and agricultural years. We argue that extractive institutions and deeply entrenched interest groups may prevail in...

Contents: 1. Dimensionality of religion -- 2. Religious origins of political regimes -- 3. Religious identity, local governance & public goods -- 4. The political economy of Russian Orthodoxy -- 5. Back to the Prussian origins: kulturkampf & comparative modernization -- References -- Conclusions...