IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/pubcho/v201y2024i1d10.1007_s11127-024-01198-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The medieval church as an economic firm?

Author

Listed:
  • David d’Avray

    (Jesus College, University of Oxford)

Abstract

A school of economic historians argues that the medieval church was an economic firm: not metaphorically, but literally. Their work has been virtually ignored by professional medieval historians, but it has been published by Oxford University Press and the University of Chicago Press, so it does deserve attention. Conversely, it would be healthy for economists and public choice scholars to get reactions from a historian. There appears to have been a wall between the two disciplines, an unhealthy situation. The economists discussed here see the medieval Church as a “multi-divisional firm”, “characterized by a central office [the papacy] that controls overall financial allocations and conducts strategic, long-range planning, but allows divisions (usually regional) a high degree of autonomy in day-to-day operations” (ST 1996: 20). In fact, the medieval church was a multitude of discrete systems within a common legal framework. It was certainly not an “economic firm”.

Suggested Citation

  • David d’Avray, 2024. "The medieval church as an economic firm?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 201(1), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:201:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s11127-024-01198-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-024-01198-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11127-024-01198-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11127-024-01198-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert B. Ekelund, Jr. & Robert F. Hebert & Robert D. Tollison, 2002. "An Economic Analysis of the Protestant Reformation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(3), pages 646-671, June.
    2. M. M. Postan, 1975. "The Glastonbury Estates: a Restatement," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 28(3), pages 524-527, August.
    3. Dieter Schmidtchen & Achim Mayer, 1997. "Established Clergy, Friars and the Pope: Some Institutional Economics of the Medieval Church," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 153(1), pages 122-122, March.
    4. Ekelund Jr., Robert B. & Tollison, Robert D., 2011. "Economic Origins of Roman Christianity," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226200026.
    5. Harvey, Barbara, 1977. "Westminster Abbey and its Estates in the Middle Ages," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198224495, Decembrie.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mark Koyama, 2024. "Analyzing the medieval church through an economic lens," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 201(1), pages 53-60, October.
    2. Pavol Minárik, 2013. "Ekonomie náboženství a její relevance pro ekonomy ve střední Evropě [Economics of Religion and its Relevance for Economists in Central Europe]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2013(5), pages 691-704.
    3. Benito Arrunada, "undated". "Catholic Confessions of Sin as Third Party Moral Enforcement," Gruter Institute Working Papers on Law, Economics, and Evolutionary Biology 3-1-1013, Berkeley Electronic Press.
    4. Jace, Clara & Piano, Ennio Emanuele, 2020. "In persona Christi Capitis: Agency problems when God is the principal," SocArXiv grhbp_v1, Center for Open Science.
    5. Franklin G. Mixon & Kamal P. Upadhyaya, 2020. "The economics of Puritanism’s treatment of bewitchment: exorcism as a potential market-pull innovation?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 203-222, October.
    6. Peter T. Leeson & Jacob W. Russ, 2018. "Witch Trials," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(613), pages 2066-2105, August.
    7. Robert B. Ekelund, 2017. "Memories of Bob Tollison: memories of a friendship," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 39-43, April.
    8. Benito Arruñada, 2003. "Specialization and rent-seeking in moral enforcement: The case of confession," Economics Working Papers 653, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Jul 2009.
    9. William R. Dougan, 2017. "Robert D. Tollison: an appreciation," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 33-37, April.
    10. Sascha O. Becker & Ludger Woessmann, 2009. "Was Weber Wrong? A Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economic History," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(2), pages 531-596.
    11. M. Leroch & C. Reggiani & G. Rossini & E. Zucchelli, 2012. "Religious attitudes and home bias: theory and evidence from a pilot study," Working Papers wp811, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    12. Laliotis, Ioannis & Minos, Dimitrios, 2022. "Religion, social interactions, and COVID-19 incidence in Western Germany," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    13. Becker, Sascha O. & Pfaff, Steven & Rubin, Jared, 2016. "Causes and consequences of the Protestant Reformation," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1-25.
    14. Ralph Hippe & Roger Fouquet, 2024. "The Human Capital Transition and the Role of Policy," Springer Books, in: Claude Diebolt & Michael Haupert (ed.), Handbook of Cliometrics, edition 3, pages 411-457, Springer.
    15. Huning, Thilo R. & Wahl, Fabian, 2021. "The fetters of inheritance? Equal partition and regional economic development," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    16. Sascha O. Becker & Luigi Pascali, 2019. "Religion, Division of Labor, and Conflict: Anti-semitism in Germany over 600 Years," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(5), pages 1764-1804, May.
    17. Marek Loužek, 2007. "Ekonomie náboženství - je hypotéza sekularizace opodstatněná? [Economics of religion - is the secularization hypothesis tenable?]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2007(5), pages 659-680.
    18. Robert F. Hébert, 2024. "Loose language or stylized facts? d’Avray on Ekelund and Tollison," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 201(1), pages 21-26, October.
    19. Davide Cantoni, 2015. "The Economic Effects Of The Protestant Reformation: Testing The Weber Hypothesis In The German Lands," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 561-598, August.
    20. Alexander William Salter, 2024. "Rationally revealing religion: in defense of Ekelund and Tollison on method," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 201(1), pages 27-38, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:201:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s11127-024-01198-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.