Annual update: Economics and Political Science of Religion Articles Published in Top Journals, 2000-present

New working paper! “On the Origins of Modern East Asia: Knowledge and the Economic Transformation of Japan and China in the Late 19th Century” with Debin Ma and Weiwen Yin Available at: digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_...

Stories like this pop up often here. My take: this happens when the author is not making it clear what the advancement is relative to their own past work It’s not reviewers being stupid. At best it’s bad writing. At worst it’s authors obfuscating to make the contribution seem bigger than it is

Gonzomancer@samthielman.com · 6mo ago

I just thought everyone should see this

Our paper is now published at QJE ... it is open access!!! academic.oup.com/qje/article/...

Jared Rubin@jaredcrubin.com · 9mo ago

Now forthcoming at Quarterly Journal of Economics Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis Available at: digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_... (See thread below for an overview)

Introducing my new paper with Clemence Tricaud. US election outcomes (margins of victory in the House, Senate and Electoral College), have become closer in recent decades, without a tightening of winning margins at the constituency level. We explain why. www.nber.org/papers/w34566

Electoral Margins and Political Competition

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

nber.org

Course materials for my European Economic History course, which I will be teaching in January 2026 Syllabus: www.jaredcrubin.com/teaching/eur... Term paper assignment (which I have tried to AI-proof, but 🤷): www.jaredcrubin.com/teaching/eur... Slides: www.jaredcrubin.com/teaching/eur...

The Economic History Review has published a virtual issue collecting the contributions of 2025 Nobel Laureate Joel Mokyr in the journal. I had the privilege of writing the introductory essay. You can read it here, together with Joel's articles and reviews. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...

<em>The Economic History Review</em> | EHS Journal | Wiley Online Library

Click on the title to browse this issue

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Beginning in Summer 2026, I will be one of the co-editors of Journal of Economic History. I will be taking over from Bishnu Gupta, who has done a fantastic job the last four years. Looking for papers asking big questions. Answers must be convincing, but methodology is secondary IMO

SIOE 2026 at INSEAD Fontainebleau! 13-15 July. Call: www.sioe.org/conference/2...

New survey on religion and gender with the amazing @jeanetbentzen.bsky.social & @chuncheekokecon.bsky.social 🎉

ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin@rfberlin.bsky.social · 9mo ago

🆕 RFBerlin Discussion Paper! Our research leader @essobecker.bsky.social, with Jeanet Bentzen, & @chuncheekokecon.bsky.social survey the links between gender and religion. 🧵->

Now forthcoming at Quarterly Journal of Economics Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis Available at: digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_... (See thread below for an overview)

Jared Rubin@jaredcrubin.com · 3y ago

**NEW WORKING PAPER** Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis w/ Ali Almelhem, Murat Iyigun & Austin Kennedy Available at: docs.iza.org/dp16674.pdf Short 🧵 below… 1/7

We wrote a survey on gender 🚻 and religion 🛐 Such a pleasure to work with @jeanetbentzen.bsky.social and @chuncheekokecon.bsky.social ❤️

Chun Chee Kok@chuncheekokecon.bsky.social · 9mo ago

1/ 🚨 New working paper alert. We (@essobecker.bsky.social @jeanetbentzen.bsky.social and myself) thought there is still much to learn about the link between religion and gender, so we write a survey 🥁 “Gender and Religion: A Survey" 👉 warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/econ...

DEADLINE FOR ASREC SUMBISSIONS IS FRIDAY! Join us in Orange in March - it should be an amazing event

Jared Rubin@jaredcrubin.com · 10mo ago

2026 ASREC Conference Orange, CA March 20-21, 2026 Keynote: James Robinson Submission Deadline: November 7 Join us at Chapman for what should be an amazing event! Seeking papers at the intersection of religion/culture & the social sciences Submit proposals here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

ASREC Graduate Student Workshop 19-21 March 2026 Orange CA Join me, @avitallivny.bsky.social, Dan Hungerman, and Jonathan Schulz for one day of lectures overviewing the field followed by attending the ASREC conference Deadline: 14 November Apply here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Now, this may not pass current standards of causal inference, but it seems like the fastest path to the Nobel is to write a blurb for How the World Become Rich

2026 ASREC Conference Orange, CA March 20-21, 2026 Keynote: James Robinson Submission Deadline: November 7 Join us at Chapman for what should be an amazing event! Seeking papers at the intersection of religion/culture & the social sciences Submit proposals here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Three years in a row the Nobel has been awarded for historical work!

Trivia question: what do the following numbers mean in the context of US political history? (Note - order matters) 51.93 9.27 14.77 16.43 19.99 21.88 21.70 18.62 61.78 (and counting)

Massively updated version of: Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis Now available at: digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_...

Our Luther vs Erasmus paper is now published in ‪Social Forces 🎉 "Competing social influence in contested diffusion: contention and the spread of the early Reformation" academic.oup.com/sf/article/d... with @jaredcrubin.com Yuan Hsiao, Steve Pfaff

Competing social influence in contested diffusion: contention and the spread of the early reformation1

Abstract. The spread of radical institutional change does not often result from one-sided pro-innovation influence; countervailing influence networks in su

academic.oup.com

The pope is fallible

The Turkish translation of How the World Became Rich is now available!

The 1st paper in a sociology journal I read ca. 20 years ago was Delacroix & Nielsen (2001) in Social Forces 👉 doi.org/10.1353/sof.... Today, our paper (with @jaredcrubin.com, Yuan Hsiao and Steve Pfaff) on Erasmus vs Luther was accepted in Social Forces 🎉 🥂 😇

Also please share / repost / reskeet! 🙌 @paulinegrosjean.bsky.social @sgehlbach.bsky.social @jaredcrubin.com @essobecker.bsky.social Etc

Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics (SIOE)@sioecon.bsky.social · last yr.

Just a reminder, the awards deadline is APRIL 15th. Please send in those nominations! Especially if you have a student whose dissertation is on ANY aspect of institutions or orgs (econ, polisci, law, management etc) One more excuse to go to Sydney! www.sioe.org/news/2025-si...

I rarely have work that has direct and clear implications for the present, but this new working paper may be just that I conceptualize how *ideology* affects political legitimacy. I focus on historical examples, but the application to the present is clear digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_...

What were the most important drivers of the Global Islamic Revival? - politicians’ seeking legitimacy? - economic stagnation? - religious club goods? - the Arab-Israeli war? - Saudi funded Wahhabism? - technology & mass education? My new paper examines ALL the evidence 👇

Alice Evans@draliceevans.bsky.social · last yr.

What caused the Global Islamic Revival? My new paper evaluates each of the contending theories, explores interconnections, and presents a new theory - “The Prestige-Piety Feedback Loop”. Critique is always welcome. drive.google.com/file/d/1lnlK...

go.bsky.app/CUoPpEa

Deadline is TODAY for our graduate student workshop! Graduate students working at the intersection of religion and the social sciences: come join us in Southern California in May! For more details, visit asrec.org

Why did the Middle East & North Africa really fall behind? And what caused the Islamic revival? Podcast with the fantastic @jaredcrubin.com Ps. It’s two hours, take snax open.spotify.com/episode/4uvV...

What caused the Islamic Revival? Professor Jared Rubin

ROCKING OUR PRIORS · Episode

open.spotify.com