comprehensively characterize the impact of monotheism on early economic development. Monotheist religions produced a paradigm shift in … sociopolitical institutions because they (a) involve a strong degree of increasing returns to scale and the natural monopoly powers …

This paper emphasizes that the evolution of religious institutions in Europe was influenced by the expansionary threat …

institutions, and are robust to the use of alternative data and estimation techniques. …

Although social institutions permeate the world in which we live, they are all but absent from our analyses of economic … institutions for growth and development. …

We analyze the role of risk-sharing institutions in transitions to modern economies. Transitions requires individual …-level, idiosyncratic risk implies that distinct risk-sharing institutions – even those providing the same level of insurance – can lead to … different growth trajectories if they differently motivate risk-taking. Historically, risk sharing institutions were selected …

entrepreneurial elite, resulting in economic policy and institutions which are more conducive to entrepreneurship and productivity … other natural resources determines structural change and economic development. A more equal distribution of natural …

Ethnic and religious fractionalization have important effects on economic growth and development, but their role in … ecclesiastical conflicts shows that religous fractionalization likely has negative effects on economic growth. …

and the evolution of societies from an epoch of stagnation to sustained economic growth. …

We discuss the two-way link between culture and economic growth. We present a model of endogenous technical change … discuss applications of models of endogenous preferences to the analysis of socio-economic transformations, such as the … heterogeneity for economic growth. …