Sacred Trust: The Medieval Church as an Economic Firm

I hate to break out the hyperbole, but this book is greatness. These guys are economical wizards. It is a shame that mainstream books, such as "Freakonomics" get all the glory, while this gem sets on the shelves.

Ekelund and his team of microeconomists have put together a convincing argument that the Catholic Church operated as an M-firm during the medieval period. Although the book comes in at just under two hundred pages, it contains several excellent examples of the Church making decisions and opperating in this capacity. Much recent economic scholarship has been aimed at using contemporary microeconomic models to analyze organizations that do not fit into the traditional boundaries of economics; Sacred Trust follows this trend, but takes it to a new level. Rather than look at modern institutions (e.g. the U.S. Army and the Soviet Union) Ekelund and his team have gone back over a millenium to examine an institution which most people (historians included) have virtually ceased to analyze. In doing this they have not only broken new academic ground, they have shifted one of the most rigid paradigms in academia. The authors state throughout Sacred Trust that their work is by no means comprehensive, but that they simply wanted to show what could be done with the latest economic models. Hopefully the work will be incouraging to other economists and historians, who can indeed take the work further. Sacred Trust is well worth your time and your money.Note to historians: do not be discouraged -- it is possible to ignore the annoying MLA format.

A fantastic book that should not be missed by anyone interested in the study of religion or institutional economics. See also Anthony Gill's RENDERING UNTO CAESAR: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE STATE IN LATIN AMERICA, and Rod Stark's THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY.