This article explores religion’s contribution to the cultural capital of the modern market economy. Networks of Church and State that originated in premodern times played an important role as conduits for the transmission of cultural values that have endured into the present and set the...

This article explores the contribution of religion to the cultural capital of the modern market economy. Networks of church and state that originated in premodern times played an important role as conduits for the transmission of cultural values that have endured into the present and set the...

Networks of Church and State that originated in premodern times played an important role as conduits for the transmission of cultural values that have endured into the present and set the economic history of China apart from that of Europe. The imprints of those networks, which preceded the...

This paper discusses tax laws and federal court decisions relating to the taxation or exemption of religious non-profit organizations. In a democracy characterized by separation of church and state, what role does the federal government play in regulating the activities and financial...

Two important theories of religiosity are the secularization hypothesis and the religion-market model. According to the former theory, economic development reduces religious participation and beliefs. According to the latter theory, religiosity depends on the presence of a state religion,...

Economic and political developments affect religiosity, and the extent of religious participation and beliefs influence economic performance and political institutions. We study these two directions of causation in a broad cross-country panel that includes survey information over the last 20...

Although freedom of religion seems, prima facie, to have little relevance to taxation, church taxes raise many interesting legal questions in relation to this human right. In this contribution, the authors identify potential issues linked to the levying of church taxes when taxpayers are...

In the eighth century, Charles Martel confiscated Church property to make distributions of benefices and precaria to his vassals. This project was an investment in state capacity and secularizations of Church property were continued under Charles' son Pippin III. Many scholars have characterized...

In my new book, One Nation Undecided: Clear Thinking About Five Hard Issues That Divide Us (Princeton UP, 2017), I first analyze the factors that make "hard" issues hard, explore the quality of public debate about them, and explain what the title means by "clear thinking." Chapters 2 through 6...

This paper highlights the role of kin-networks for the functioning of modern societies: countries with strong extended families as characterized by a high level of cousin marriages exhibit a weak rule of law and are more likely autocratic. To assess causality, I exploit a quasi-natural...

We analyze the joint dynamics of religious beliefs, scientific progress and coalitional politics along both religious and economic lines. History offers many examples of the recurring tensions between science and organized religion, but as part of the paper's motivating evidence we also uncover...

We analyze the joint dynamics of religious beliefs, scientific progress and coalitional politics along both religious and economic lines. History offers many examples of the recurring tensions between science and organized religion, but as part of the paper's motivating evidence we also uncover...

Editorial to the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 2/2014.

The Nuosu are a subgroup of the so-called Yi ethnic group. Today around two million Nuosu live in Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province and translocal urban contexts, such as Chengdu and Beijing. For many centuries, the Nuosu have cultivated a belief system composed of a...

El Salvador and its Central American neighbors are experiencing a terrible tide of criminal violence. Homicide rates are some of the highest in the world. This scourge of violent crime is a major concern of policymakers both in the region and in Washington, DC. Indeed, through regional security...

This Article combines an analysis of documents submitted in connection with Chapter 11 cases filed by religious organizations with the results of in-depth interviews with these organizations' leaders and their bankruptcy attorneys to assess whether reorganization has the potential to offer an...