According to existing theory, religion thrives when groups overcome the free-rider problem in the production of religious goods. This paper explains, however, that allowing some free-riding is necessary in a dynamic setting. If an individual only contributes when she has high religious capital,...

The past decade has witnessed an explosion of interest in the scientific study of happiness. Economists, in particular, find that happiness increases in income but decreases in income aspirations, and this work prompts examination of how aspirations form and adapt over time. This paper presents...

In many instances of potential violent or non-violent conflict, the future strategic positions of adversaries are very different when there is open conflict than when there is settlement. Then, we show that as the future becomes more important, open conflict becomes more likely than settlement....

We explore how peace or war can occur in the presence of commitment problems. These problems can be reduced by institutions of good governance or, alternatively, state capacity which (i) can be considered a collective good and (ii) can be improved through investments. We show how the likelihood...

Housing tenure choice has been the subject of a very large literature. Many treatments have sought to estimate the effect of household income on the likelihood of home ownership. To date, no study has ever disaggregated the household income of married couples into the separate labor income...

The paper investigates the effects of the Zimbabwean national culture on enterprise development. In-depth interviews were carried out with fifteen (15) entrepreneurs and seven (7) members of the community whose role was to support entrepreneurs. It was established that the national culture...

In 1970, the Federal District Court ordered that no school in the Pasadena School District would be allowed to open with a “majority minority population.?To comply with this order, Pasadena began busing many of its minority students to other within-district schools with smaller minority...

Success and failure of enterprise development is dependent on both the entrepreneur and the environment in which entrepreneurial activities take place. The entrepreneur is motivated to start an enterprise if the environment is supportive and is discouraged if the environment is not supportive....