Is God an economist? An economic inquiry into the relationship between self and God in Judeo-Christian theology

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dc.contributor.authorMuller, Edward Nicholas, IV, 1964-
dc.date.accessioned2010-07-29T23:40:16Z
dc.date.available2010-07-29T23:40:16Z
dc.date.issued2009-12
dc.descriptionxi, 69 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.en_US
dc.description.abstractIn the context of Judeo-Christian theology, I develop what appears to be the first formal economic model to analyze the joint interactions between human actors and a divine actor involved in the production of good works. Human actors are identified as trusting believers, doubting believers, or nonbelievers. The divine actor is perceived as offering four different alternative contracts, an ex ante contract without a penalty, an ex post contract, an ex ante contract with a penalty, and a covenant. Contract types are identified with specific religious affiliations. The amount of good works produced depends on the strength of faith and the contractual choices of the individual, as implied by religious affiliation. I test explicit predictions of the model using individual survey data from a nationally representative sample. My results suggest that (1) ex post contracts "work" (attendance is greater for trusting believers under ex post contracts than under ex ante contracts without a penalty); (2) strength of faith does not matter (good works are equivalent for both trusting and doubting believers under ex ante contracts); (3) penalties do not "work" for believers (attendance is no greater for believers under ex ante contracts with a penalty than under ex ante contracts without a penalty); and (4) covenants "work" (attendance is the same for believers under covenants as under ex ante contracts without a penalty). Tests focus either on the model's counterintuitive predictions for the role of strength of faith for a given contract type or on the role of religious affiliation and contract type for a given strength of faith. The tests suggest substantial power for the model's predictions. Even so, the dissertation emphasizes throughout the limitations of a purely economic analysis of the Judeo-Christian tradition and theology.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipCommittee in charge: Joe Stone, Co-Chairperson, Economics; Jo Anna Gray, Co-Chairperson, Economics; Larry Singell, Member, Economics; Jean Stockard, Outside Member, Planning Public Policy & Mgmten_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/10558
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregonen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesUniversity of Oregon theses, Dept. of Economics, Ph. D., 2009;
dc.subjectContracten_US
dc.subjectEconomics of religionen_US
dc.subjectReligious affiliationen_US
dc.subjectTheologyen_US
dc.subjectGood worksen_US
dc.subjectGoden_US
dc.subjectSelfen_US
dc.subjectJudeo-Christianen_US
dc.subjectChristianen_US
dc.subjectReligionen_US
dc.subjectEconomicsen_US
dc.titleIs God an economist? An economic inquiry into the relationship between self and God in Judeo-Christian theologyen_US
dc.title.alternativeEconomic inquiry into the relationship between self and God in Judeo-Christian theologyen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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