Book Reviewed: The Divine Economy: How Religions Compete for Wealth, Power, and People by Paul Seabright

The operation of market forces, supply, and demand on the faith platform The religious institutions today are business platforms. They offer a unique service for people seeking spiritual fulfillment and opportunities. The author examines the supply and demand concepts, market/societal forces, and competition among other godly institutions that specialize in providing similar metaphysical and mystical experiences. This analysis focus on how religions attract, retain, and grow. They operate like businesses, competing for wealth, power, and followers at the global level. They have honed their competitive strategies for thousands of years while expanding their influence on masses across nations. The success of businesses like Microsoft or Apple requires the managers to understand the current structure of their businesses, logistics, and corporate culture in an ever-changing global economy. The same requirements are necessary for the religious institutions except that the latter require faith of their followers in their belief system. The biggest followers are politicians and the government. They grant vast powers to religious movements by establishing them as official religions, by granting them subsidies and tax breaks, and by giving them legal power to punish people who don't accept their authority. Historically this autocratic system worked well for both Islam and Christianity. From battlefield to ballot box, from boardroom to bedroom, religious movements have enjoyed immense power. The most successful religious movements today are those that have been developing and adapting the platform model for the demands of the twenty-first century. A study published in 2016 estimated that faith-based organizations in the United States received revenues of $378 billion which illustrates the enormous inflow of resources. In fact, this is greater than the revenues of Apple and Microsoft combined. Islam has sought legitimacy in Islamic autocracies in modern world like Pakistan,, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Türkiye, and most Arab countries. Religiosity is a key component of their political strategy. The author reviews the statistical analysis from literature and shows that between 1900 and 2020, Muslim population almost doubled, rising from 12.4% to24.2%. Over the same period, Christianity fell slightly from 34.5% to 32.2%. This work illustrates as how the religions have dominated human lives in many ways imagined. The earlier part of the book focuses on historical aspects of religion and economics.