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The keynote will be streamed live via Zoom for remote participants.

About the Talk

Adam Smith wrote extensively on the behavior of religious movements in The Wealth of Nations, but the subject was ignored by economists until the late twentieth century. Researchers now recognize that religious people not only espouse doctrines and beliefs but also undertake important resource-consuming and producing activities. For religious movements to survive and grow they need to manage these resources wisely.

About the Speaker

Paul Seabright is Professor of Economics at the Toulouse School of Economics. His research interests include microeconomics, industrial and competition policy, theory of organisation, and development economics. In recent years, he has also increasingly focused on the economics of religious movements. This research culminated in his most recent monograph, The Divine Economy: How Religions Compete for Wealth, Power, and People (Princeton University Press, 2024), which also appeared in a French edition earlier in 2026, with Japanese, Arabic, and Chinese translations to follow.