Annual update: Economics and Political Science of Religion Articles Published in Top Journals, 2000-present

New working paper!

“On the Origins of Modern East Asia: Knowledge and the Economic Transformation of Japan and China in the Late 19th Century”

with Debin Ma and Weiwen Yin

Available at: digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_...

Stories like this pop up often here. My take: this happens when the author is not making it clear what the advancement is relative to their own past work

It’s not reviewers being stupid. At best it’s bad writing. At worst it’s authors obfuscating to make the contribution seem bigger than it is

thanks!!

Our paper is now published at QJE ... it is open access!!!

academic.oup.com/qje/article/...

Electoral Margins and Political Competition Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

Introducing my new paper with Clemence Tricaud. US election outcomes (margins of victory in the House, Senate and Electoral College), have become closer in recent decades, without a tightening of winning margins at the constituency level. We explain why. www.nber.org/papers/w34566

Course materials for my European Economic History course, which I will be teaching in January 2026

Syllabus: www.jaredcrubin.com/teaching/eur...

Term paper assignment (which I have tried to AI-proof, but 🤷): www.jaredcrubin.com/teaching/eur...

Slides: www.jaredcrubin.com/teaching/eur...

<em>The Economic History Review</em> | EHS Journal | Wiley Online Library Click on the title to browse this issue

The Economic History Review has published a virtual issue collecting the contributions of 2025 Nobel Laureate Joel Mokyr in the journal. I had the privilege of writing the introductory essay. You can read it here, together with Joel's articles and reviews.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...

Thanks!!

Thanks!!!

Thanks!!!

Thanks!!

Beginning in Summer 2026, I will be one of the co-editors of Journal of Economic History. I will be taking over from Bishnu Gupta, who has done a fantastic job the last four years.

Looking for papers asking big questions. Answers must be convincing, but methodology is secondary IMO

SIOE 2026 at INSEAD Fontainebleau! 13-15 July. Call: www.sioe.org/conference/2...

New survey on religion and gender with the amazing @jeanetbentzen.bsky.social & @chuncheekokecon.bsky.social 🎉

thanks man!!

Now forthcoming at Quarterly Journal of Economics

Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis

Available at: digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_...

(See thread below for an overview)

We wrote a survey on gender 🚻 and religion 🛐
Such a pleasure to work with @jeanetbentzen.bsky.social and @chuncheekokecon.bsky.social ❤️

DEADLINE FOR ASREC SUMBISSIONS IS FRIDAY!

Join us in Orange in March - it should be an amazing event

ASREC Graduate Student Workshop
19-21 March 2026
Orange CA

Join me, @avitallivny.bsky.social, Dan Hungerman, and Jonathan Schulz for one day of lectures overviewing the field followed by attending the ASREC conference

Deadline: 14 November

Apply here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Now, this may not pass current standards of causal inference, but it seems like the fastest path to the Nobel is to write a blurb for How the World Become Rich

2026 ASREC Conference
Orange, CA
March 20-21, 2026

Keynote: James Robinson
Submission Deadline: November 7

Join us at Chapman for what should be an amazing event! Seeking papers at the intersection of religion/culture & the social sciences

Submit proposals here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Soon I hope! Just as deserving, as I suspect you agree…

Three years in a row the Nobel has been awarded for historical work!

Hint - summing the number may help

Very close…

Trivia question: what do the following numbers mean in the context of US political history? (Note - order matters)

51.93
9.27
14.77
16.43
19.99
21.88
21.70
18.62
61.78 (and counting)

Massively updated version of:

Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis

Now available at: digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_...

Competing social influence in contested diffusion: contention and the spread of the early reformation1 Abstract. The spread of radical institutional change does not often result from one-sided pro-innovation influence; countervailing influence networks in su

Our Luther vs Erasmus paper is now published in ‪Social Forces 🎉

"Competing social influence in contested diffusion: contention and the spread of the early Reformation" academic.oup.com/sf/article/d...

with @jaredcrubin.com Yuan Hsiao, Steve Pfaff

The pope is fallible