Anthropologists have repeatedly noted that there has been little theoretical progress in the
anthropology of religion over the past fifty years. 1–7 By the 1960s, Geertz2 had pronounced …

This chapter surveys the recent social science literature on religion in economic history,
covering both socioeconomic causes and consequences of religion. Following the rapidly …

In this survey, we argue that the economic analysis of fertility has entered a new era. First-
generation models of fertility choice were designed to account for two empirical regularities …

The economics of religion is a relatively new field of research in economics. This survey
serves two purposes—it is backward-looking in that it traces the historical and sociological …

When effort is observable to peers, students may try to avoid social penalties by conforming
to prevailing norms. To test this hypothesis, we first consider a natural experiment that …

In many models, economic growth is driven by people discovering new ideas. These models
typically assume either a constant or growing population. However, in high income countries …

We provide an overview and synthesis of the literatures analyzing games in which players
are connected via a network structure. We discuss, in particular, the impact of the structure of …

This overview examines critically the post-9/11 empirical literature on terrorism. Major
contributions by both economists and political scientists are included. We focus on five main …

We develop a theory of prosocial behavior that combines heterogeneity in individual
altruism and greed with concerns for social reputation or self-respect. Rewards or …

We study the economic effects of religious practices in the context of the observance of
Ramadan fasting, one of the central tenets of Islam. To establish causality, we exploit …