Teaching the Economics of Religion: Mixing it into Undergraduate Microeconomics Courses [Stonebraker]
Robert J. Stonebraker
Winthrop University
Integrating topics from the economics of religion can enrich a wide variety of undergraduate courses that use microeconomics. Students typically respond favorably and gain an enhanced appreciation of the power of economic concepts. Although the types of concepts most easily addressed will vary with the course and audience, the most natural points of intersection include: (1) a discussion of free-rider problems in religious organizations in a section on externality and public good issues, (2) monopoly structure and conduct, (3) rent-seeking behavior under government regulation, (4) market strategies, and (5) Hotelling models of spatial competition.
File: StonbreakerTeaching Religion Panel.doc [64.00KB]
Published 11/02/2007
Filed under: (2007), *stonebraker, @asrec'07, free riding, monopoly, rent seeking, spatial competition, teaching