Deakin University
Browse

File(s) under permanent embargo

Why did pre-modern states adopt Big-God religions?

journal contribution
posted on 2020-03-01, 00:00 authored by S Skaperdas, Samarth VaidyaSamarth Vaidya
Over the past two millennia successful pre-modern states in Eurasia adopted and cultivated Big-God religions that emphasize (i) the ruler’s legitimacy as divinely ordained and (ii) a morality adapted for large-scale societies that can have positive economic effects. We make sense of that development by building on previous research that has conceptualized pre-modern states as maximizing the ruler’s profit. We model the interaction of rulers and subjects who have both material and psychological payoffs, the latter emanating from religious identity. Overall, religion reduces the cost of controlling subjects through the threat of violence, increases production, increases tax revenue, and reduces banditry. A Big-God ruler, who also is a believer, has stronger incentives to invest in expanding the number of believers and the intensity of belief, as well as investing in state capacity. Furthermore, such investments often are complementary, mutually reinforcing one another, thus leading to an evolutionary advantage for rulers that adopted Big-God religions.

History

Journal

Public choice

Volume

182

Issue

3-4

Pagination

373 - 394

Publisher

Springer

Location

New York, N.Y.

ISSN

0048-5829

eISSN

1573-7101

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

Usage metrics

    Research Publications

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC