Rational choice in religion - and beyond

Article Abstract:

Russell Hardin's article 'The Economics of Religious Belief' shows how rational choice considerations can be applied to the area of beliefs, but this approach does have its limits and needs to be extended. Hardin considers how cost and benefit considerations can help form religious beliefs or preferences. However, traditional neoclassical economics are insufficient when dealing with religion: consideration must be given to psychological anomalies in religious behaviour, such as the endowment effect and the sunk cost effect, as well as to the crowding-out effect.

Economics, Religion, Religion and economics

---

Property rights and the precondition for markets: the case of the Amazon frontier

Article Abstract:

Property rights are developing in frontier land in the Amazon region of Brazil. Property rights represent a basic market institution. A survey has been carried out of small holders which illustrates how access to the market can be obtained through informal rights, and wealth can be accumulated allowing for longer term settlement. Falls in transportation costs bring rises in land values. Land titles then become important in order for capital to be obtained to invest in land.

Economic aspects, Amazon River region, Right of property, Property rights, Institutional economics

---

The evolution of governance structures: entrepreneurs and corporations

Article Abstract:

Recent research into the evolution of governance structures has concluded that the particular historical events of graeco-roman culture form the basis for Coase's confrontation of market coordination and hierarchical firm-organisation. This research has not covered the 20th century, during which it has become increasingly hard to differentiate between an actual evolutionary stage and accidently temporary phenomena.

Research, Corporate governance

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Innovation, learning and industrial organisation. Large firms and industrial reform in former planned economies: the case of China
• Abstracts: The nation in depression. The economy of the early Roman Empire. Transmission of the Great Depression
• Abstracts: Aggregating ordinal probabilities on finite sets. A quasiordering is the intersection of orderings. Efficient strategy-proof exchange and minimum consumption guarantees
• Abstracts: Rational expectations and the demand for money: a nonparametric approach. Inflation and money growth under the International Gold Standard, 1850-1913
• Abstracts: Trade liberalisation and the environment: the case of the Uruguay Round. Ex-post evaluation of the Uruguay Round Agriculture Agreement

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.