Club Models, Church Competition, And Religious Regulations

Although economists have studied religion for many decades, most of them addressed it as an independent variable explaining various economic phenomena. At the same time, modeling and making sense of religious behavior per se (religion as dependent variable) has been popular among sociologists, anthropologists, and neuroscientists. Nevertheless, economists have gradually developed a strong interest in religious behavior as well. They proposed theories, models, and empirical analyses of religious behavior. This scholarship has become embedded with sociological studies of religion. Depending on the discipline (and period in history), this scholarship was labeled as “the rational choice approach,” “the religious economy approach,” “theory of religious markets,” and “the supply-side explanation.” Even though the ultimate goal of this scholarship is to make sense of individual religiosity, it usually starts the analysis from the suppliers of religious services (churches, parishes, clergy, and even cults). This scholarship shows that information about motives, resources, and incentives of organized religious groups explains the individual religious behavior of laypeople. Economists and sociologists have reinforced their theories and findings. Therefore, this chapter uses the term “social science” to include scholars from different fields. This chapter reviews a brief history and main pillars of the supply-side theories of religion ending with a discussion of possible future directions.