Theocracy as a Screening Device

Douglas W. Allen

Chapter 8 in The Political Economy of Theocracy, 2009, pp 181-199 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The subject of theocracy, a government grounded in a religious theology, seems beyond economic analysis.1 First, a theocracy is a type of organization, and despite the advances made in the economics of organization over the past forty years, the calculus of markets still rules the roost. Second, a theocracy implies theology—a topic not taught in economic graduate schools—and worse a subject related to “faith,” which seems incongruent with morally vacuous utility maximizing agents. Finally, the secular world view, so commonly held in economics, finds theology uncomfortable at best, but somewhat irrational at worst.2 The result has been that economists have generally ignored the study of religion, churches, and theocracy.3

Keywords: Social Capital; Transaction Cost; Seventeenth Century; Industrial Revolution; Screen Device (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1057/9780230620063_9

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