Talking About Religion and Culture
The Economics of Faith
The influence of religious doctrine on societies and cultures is also a focal point for the work of Maristella Botticini, an associate professor in the Department of Economics. In a series of journal articles and a forthcoming book, Farmers to Merchants: Human Capital and Jewish History, 70-1492 c.e., Botticini and her coauthor, Zvi Eckstein, an economist at the University of Tel Aviv and a past visiting professor at BU, have examined how Judaism's emphasis on universal education (among males) in the early centuries of the first millennium shaped Jewish social and economic history. In doing so, they explore a broader question: In what ways can religion shape such non-theological matters as demographics and economics?
In their research Botticini and Eckstein challenge the standing theories that Jews primarily worked in skilled, urban occupations either because they were barred from agricultural work due to their religion or because they sought to sustain their shared cultural and religious identity by banding together in certain locations or professions. Farmers to Merchants looks instead to a cultural transformation that unfolded following a shift in Judaism's focus from ritual and ceremony, which were concentrated in the Temple, to Torah study, which could be carried out in every Jewish home. By the end of the second century c.e., every Jewish father was expected to educate his sons.
Botticini and Eckstein trace the effects of this transformation on several important developments in Jewish history. For example, the lives of Jewish subsistence farmers left scant time and resources for book learning, and literacy, in turn, provided little economic benefit to those who made their living in the fields. Correspondingly, conversion rates from Judaism were high among poor farmers, who could not afford to educate their sons as their religion demanded. Literacy proved to be of far greater economic value in urban areas, where educated Jews found work in crafts, finance, and trade. These changes contributed to both the urbanization of the Jewish population and the expansion of the Diaspora, as Jews traveled widely in search of opportunities abroad.
Though the timeframe she examines in Farmers to Merchants ends in 1492, Botticini emphasizes that the findings of this interdisciplinary study need not be confined to the historical past. She hopes that her research will make “academic and non-academic readers think about the importance of religion and social norms in our daily behavior.”
For more information, see http://people.bu.edu/maristel.
