Deus Economicus

Oslington, Paul (2005): Deus Economicus. Unpublished.

Abstract

In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in religion among economists, but the content of religion has so far been neglected . This paper builds a rational choice model of divine action, in particular of the structure of the divine offer of salvation and rational human response. It considers why God might not save everyone, the pattern of salvation across individuals with different preferences and endowments, and the way religious conversion and revivals are often large and sudden changes. Rational choice analysis to divine human interactions is a contribution to the renewal interdisciplinary conversation between economists and religion scholars.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Institution: Unjiversity of NSW
• Language: English
• Keywords: Rational Choice; Economics of Religion; Divine Action
• Subjects: Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology > Z12 - Religion

References

Allen, D. W. (2000). The Paradox of Choice: With an Application to Free Will Versus Predestination. Working Paper. Simon Fraser University, Canada.

Alston, W. P. (1988). "Divine Action and Human Action" in Divine Action edited by T. Morris. Ithaca, Cornell University Press.

Azzi, C. and R. G. Ehrenberg (1975). “Household Allocation of Time and Church Attendance.” Journal of Political Economy 83(1): 27-56.

Barros, P. P. and N. Garoupa (2002). “An Economic Theory of Church Strictness.” Economic Journal 112(July): 559-76.

Becker, G. (1976). The Economic Approach to Human Behaviour University of Chicago Press.

Brams, S. (1980). Biblical Games: A Strategic Analysis of Stories in the Old Testament Massachusetts, MIT Press.

Brams, S (1983) Superior Beings New York, Springer-Verlag.

Brennan, G. and A. M. C. Waterman, Eds. (1994). Economics and Religion: Are They Distinct? Boston, Kluwer.

Ekelund, R. B., R. F. Hebert and R. D. Tollison (2002). “An Economic Analysis of the Protestant Reformation.” Journal of Political Economy 110(3): 646-71.

Fogel, R. (1999). “Catching up with the Economy.” American Economic Review 89(1): 1-16.

Iannaccone, L. (1990). “Religious Participation: A Human Capital Approach.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 29(3): 297-314.

Iannaccone, L. (1992). “Sacrifice and Stigma: Reducing Free-Riding in Cults, Communes, and Other Collectives.” Journal of Political Economy 100(2): 271-91.

Iannaccone, L. (1998). “Introduction to the Economics of Religion.” Journal of Economic Literature 36(3): 1465-95.

Montgomery, J. D. (1996). “Contemplations on the Economic Approach to Religious Behaviour.” American Economic Review 86(2): 443-7.

Oslington, P., Ed. (2003). Economics and Religion Cheltenham, Edward Elgar. 2 volumes.

Saunders, N. (2002). Divine Action and Modern Science, Cambridge University Press.

Schweiker, W. and C. Matthewes, Eds. (2004). Having: Property and Possession in Religious and Social Life. Michigan, Eerdmans.

Smith, I. (1999). “Economics of the Apocalypse.” Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 155(3): 443-57.

Smith, I. (2002). “A Rational Choice Model of the Book of Revelation.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 85: 97-116.

Wolf S. (1990) Freedom within Reason Oxford, OUP.

Zagzebski L. (1991) The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge Oxford,OUP.