News

    Send us your news of press coverage, conferences, books and book contracts, or courses you are offering on the topic of the rational choice study of religion.

  

• Esa Mangeloja (Ph.D, Economics, B.A. Theology) of the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, gave two public lectures entitled "Economics of Religion" on September 12-13, 2005 at the University of Regina, SK, Canada. There were about 60 attendants, mainly from the departments of Economics, Religious Studies and Political Science. The audience was active and discussions were lively.
• Laurence R. Iannaccone and Rodney Stark's work on door-to-door evangelism was cited in The Examiner Washington.   Follow this link to read the article.
• Laurence R. Iannaccone, Robert Woodberry, and Timur Kuran were each awarded 30-month grants from Metanexus Institute to advance the study of spiritual capital.
• Businessweek Magazine ran a feature on the economics of religion in its December 6, 2004 issue.  Work by ASREC affiliates Laurence R. Iannaccone, Timur Kuran, Eli Berman, Carmel Chiswick, and Rachel McCleary (and her husband and associate, Robert Barro), not to mention Gary Becker and Adam Smith, were cited.
• ASREC president Laurence R. Iannaccone was interviewed by Kojo Nnamdi on NPR affiliate WAMU.  Click here for a link to this interview on the WAMU archive (requires and offers a Real Player download.)
• The Consortium for the Economic Study of Religion has launched a new academic society, the Association for the Study of Religion, Economics, and Culture.  ASREC began its membership drive in September, 2004.   For more information or to join, click here.
• Sponsored by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, the 3rd annual conference on Religion, Economics, and Culture was held October 2004 in Kansas City, MO.  Click here for to access the papers presented at the conference.
• Sponsored by grants from the John Templeton Foundation and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, the 2nd annual conference on Religion, Economics, and Culture was held October 2003 in Norfolk, VA.  Click here to read an account of this conference.
• Work by ASREC advisory board member Eli Berman and ASREC president Laurence R. Iannaccone were featured in the January  17, 2004 issue of The Economist.  Click here to read this article.
• The Winter 2004 issue of Ideas into Action, a publication of the Mercatus Center, featured an article on CESR and its general director, Laurence R. Iannaccone.  Click here to read this article.
• ASREC board members Evelyn Lehrer and Carrie Miles and advisory board member Carmel Chiswick have recently been awarded contracts to write books in the economics of religion.