Economics, Religion, and Culture: A Brief Introduction

Abstract

In this introduction we will avoid laboring over a definition of the “Economics of Religion & Culture,” but this will not stop us from arguing that it is a burgeoning area of research. Work focusing on religious practice and related cultural issues dates back at least to Adam Smith, but until the 1990s there had been little published by mainstream economists in this area. Recently, however, a variety of subfields in economics have taken up work here.

Keywords: Religion, faith, culture, economics

JEL Classification: Z12