Nice to see this kind of thinking percolating into the mainstream:
The second effect of the literacy obligation was to drive a lot of Jews away from their religion. [stupid Jews become Christians or Muslims -Razib] Botticini and Eckstein admit that they have little direct evidence for this conclusion, but there’s a lot of indirect evidence. First, it makes sense: People do tend to run away from expensive obligations. Second, we can look at population trends: While the world population increased from 50 million in the sixth century to 285 million in the 18th, the population of Jews remained almost fixed at just a little over a million. Why were the Jews not expanding when everyone else was? We don’t know for sure, but a reasonable guess is that a lot of Jews were becoming Christians and Muslims.
So—which Jews stuck with Judaism? Presumably those with a particularly strong attachment to their religion and/or a particularly strong attachment to education for education’s sake. [the smart Jews remain -Razib] (The burden of acquiring an education is, after all, less of a burden for those who enjoy being educated.) The result: Over time, you’re left with a population of people who enjoy education, are required by their religion to be educated, and are particularly attached to their religion. Naturally, these people tend to become educated. And once they’re educated, they leave the farms.
Read the whole thing over at Slate. And before godless chimes in, the same kind of article could be applied to priestly elites the world over, Brahmins, families that form the ulema and Protestant clergy. Is it any coincidence that these groups tend to become the intelligensia once they become secularized?
Update from Jason M: The Slate article summarizes the work of Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein. For a fuller treatment of the theory you can read their entire original paper (PDF) From Farmers to Merchants: A Human Capital Interpretation of Jewish Economic History.
Update from Razib: Also, check out the thread over @ Yglesias’ blog on this topic.
Further information from Razib: Readers might be interested in the National Jewish Survey data (PDF). Look at the traits for “Jews of other religions,” and note the contrast in educational level and income with “Jews by religion” and “Jewish with no religion.” This might not apply historically, but it is interesting in the American context.
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