TY  - JOUR
AU  - Richardson,Gary
AU  - McBride,Michael
TI  - Religion, Longevity, and Cooperation: The Case of the Craft Guild.
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14004
PY  - 2008
Y2  - May 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14004
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14004.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Gary Richardson
Department of Economics
University of California, Irvine
3155 Social Sciences Plaza
Irvine, CA 92697-5100
Tel: 949/824-3189
Fax: 949/824-2182
E-Mail: garyr@uci.edu

Michael McBride
3151 Social Science Plaza
University of California
Irvine, CA 92697-5100
E-Mail: mcbride@uci.edu
AB  - When the mortality rate is high, repeated interaction alone may not sustain cooperation, and religion may play an important role in shaping economic institutions. This insight explains why during the fourteenth century, when plagues decimated populations and the church promoted the doctrine of purgatory, guilds that bundled together religious and occupational activities dominated manufacturing and commerce. During the sixteenth century, the disease environment eased, and the Reformation dispelled the doctrine of purgatory, necessitating the development of new methods of organizing industry. The logic underlying this conclusion has implications for the study of institutions, economics, and religion throughout history and in the developing world today.
ER  -