WA/ITH TWO CENTURIES separating its first and second publications, there is no denying
that the economics of religion got off to a slow start. Yet despite this leisurely launch, dozens
of economists (and several sociologists) have now picked up where Adam Smith ([1776] ...

Abstract In a largely ignored chapter of The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith laid the
foundation for an economic theory of religious institutions. Smith emphasized the importance
of market structure, describing in detail the differences between state-sponsored religious ...

Traditional religious research fails to recognize religion as a market phenomenon. It
especially overlooh supply-side factors that shape the incentives and opportunities of
religious prms, emphasizing instead demand-side shifts in the perceptions, tastes, and ...

The rational choice approach attracts various criticisms, many of them unfounded. This
essay defends rational choice as a powerful paradigm for the scientific study of religion. The
paradigm unifies a wide range of empirical findings, generates new hypotheses to guide ...

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out of 142. Source:2014 Journal Citation Reports® (Thomson Reuters, 2015). Religious Markets
and the Economics of Religion. The first page of the PDF of this article appears below. ...

A fundamental debate has surfaced within the social-scientific study of religion. Though
fueled by new, economic models of religious behavior, the debate finds its origins in a
growing body of empirical findings. These findings challenge the received wisdom that ...

This study uses the economic concepts of household production and human capital to
develop and test a new model of religious participation. The model explains observed
patterns in denominational mobility, religious intermarriage, conversion ages, the ...

We propose a theory of religious mobilization that accounts for variations in religious
participation on the basis of variations in the degree of regulation of religious economies
and consequent variations in their levels of religious competition. To account for the ...

Traditional scholarship approaches religious history from the demand side, attributing
developments to the shifting desires, perceptions, and circumstances of religious
consumers. This article advocates an alternative, supply-side approach that emphasizes ...

SINCE FINISHING my thesis in 1984, I have had the good fortune to find an employer willing
to subsidize my research on the economics of religion, colleagues willing to read my papers
and take them seriously, and collaborators with interests and agendas that complement ...