Adam Smith Club speaker applies economics to religion

    Supply and demand, free markets-terms normally associated with economic theory seem foreign to a discussion of religion. But to Dr. Laurence R. Iannaccone, the Koch Professor of Economics at George Mason University, there are definite correlations between the principles that fuel a free market economy and those that guide institutions of faith. Iannaccone was the keynote speaker at Campbell University’s annual Adam Smith Club banquet Thursday, April 14.
     Using the same yardstick applied to a growing business, Iannaccone studied denominational growth, church attendance, religious giving, conversion, and other aspects of religion and concluded that, like a business, the religious denominations that thrive are the ones that are most competitive and responsive to the customers’ needs.          Comparing Europe, where there is only a small number of religious sects, to the United States, where there are approximately 1,500, Iannaccone found that over 40 percent of the U.S. population attends church services weekly, while less than 10 percent attend in countries like Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
     “There is a highly competitive market for religion in the U.S,” Iannaccone said. “Religions must choose to abandon measures that don’t produce results in favor of more profitable ones. When religion becomes a state monopoly, financed by the government as it is in many European countries, the incentive is to keep the benefactors happy. Like any other government agency or industry, religious institutions become inefficient.”
     In America, on the other hand, the First Amendment guarantees the separation of church and state. “America was the world’s first free marketplace for religion,” Iannaccone said.
     Iannaccone’s articles on the economics of religion have appeared in more than 50 publications, including the “American Economic Review, the “Journal of Political Economy,” the “American Journal of Sociology,” and the “Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.” He is currently writing two books on the economics of religion. The Templeton Foundation recently awarded Iannaccone a $500,000 grant to support his studies over the next three years.
    As part of the evening’s activities, the Adam Smith Club 2005 Free Enterprise Award was given to Keith Allison, president and CEO of Systel, an office technology supplier with over 200 employees in eight locations throughout North Carolina. Allison started the business with less than $10,000 in borrowed money and in 1988 Systel was recognized as one of the 500 fastest-growing companies in the U.S.
     Allison is a past chairman of Panasonic’s National Dealer Advisory Council and has received the Business Excellence Award from Methodist College and the Business Person of the Year and Distinguished Service awards from the Fayetteville Jaycees. He was an advisor to former Governor Jim Martin on business development in North Carolina, and currently serves on Ricoh Corporation’s National Advisory Board for U.S. operations.
     Founded in 1977, the Adam Smith Club is a student organization dedicated to promoting the principles of individual liberty and personal responsibility, free enterprise and minimal government.


Photo Copy: Dr. Laurence Iannaccone, keynote speaker for the Campbell University's Adam Smith Club banquet. (Photo by Todd Scarborough)

Bulletin 0097-4/18/05