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Witch Trials

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  • Peter T. Leeson
  • Jacob W. Russ

Abstract

We argue that the great age of European witch trials reflected non‐price competition between the Catholic and Protestant churches for religious market share in confessionally contested parts of Christendom. Analyses of new data covering more than 43,000 people tried for witchcraft across 21 European countries over a period of five‐and‐a‐half centuries and more than 400 early modern European Catholic–Protestant conflicts support our theory. More intense religious‐market contestation led to more intense witch‐trial activity. And compared to religious‐market contestation, the factors that existing hypotheses claim were important for witch‐trial activity – weather, income and state capacity – were not.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter T. Leeson & Jacob W. Russ, 2018. "Witch Trials," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(613), pages 2066-2105, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:econjl:v:128:y:2018:i:613:p:2066-2105
    DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12498
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Leeson, Peter T., 2014. "Human Sacrifice," Review of Behavioral Economics, now publishers, vol. 1(1-2), pages 137-165, January.
    2. Platteau, Jean-Philippe, 2009. "Institutional obstacles to African economic development: State, ethnicity, and custom," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 669-689, September.
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    7. Franklin G. Mixon, 2015. "Public Choice Economics and the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-50635-1, July.
    8. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James Robinson, 2005. "The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change, and Economic Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 546-579, June.
    9. Peter T Leeson, 2014. "Oracles," Rationality and Society, , vol. 26(2), pages 141-169, May.
    10. Peter T. Leeson, 2012. "Ordeals," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(3), pages 691-714.
    11. Peter T. Leeson, 2013. "Vermin Trials," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(3), pages 811-836.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Cornelius Christian, 2017. "Elites, Weather Shocks, And Witchcraft Trials In Scotland," Working Papers 1704, Brock University, Department of Economics.
    2. Clara Jace, 2019. "An economic theory of economic analysis: the case of the School of Salamanca," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 181(3), pages 375-397, December.
    3. Cornelius Christian, 2019. "The Political and Economic Role of Elites in Persecution: Evidence from Witchcraft Trials in Early Modern Scotland," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 10(2).
    4. Cornelius Christian, 2017. "Elites, Weather Shocks, And Witchcraft Trials In Scotland," Working Papers 1801, Brock University, Department of Economics.
    5. Zussman, Asaf, 2021. "Scapegoating in evaluation decisions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 152-163.
    6. Kulkarni, Parashar & Pfaff, Steven, 2022. "Church politics, sectarianism, and judicial terror: The Scottish witch-hunt, 1563 - 1736," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    7. 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.
    8. Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist & Andrea Seim & Heli Huhtamaa, 2021. "Climate and society in European history," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(2), March.
    9. Geloso, Vincent J. & Salter, Alexander W., 2020. "State capacity and economic development: Causal mechanism or correlative filter?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 372-385.
    10. Ennio E. Piano, 2019. "State capacity and public choice: a critical survey," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 289-309, January.
    11. Gershman, Boris, 2020. "Witchcraft beliefs as a cultural legacy of the Atlantic slave trade: Evidence from two continents," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    12. Leeson Peter T., 2021. "Trading with the Dead," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 615-646, November.

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