The Economics of Paradise, 2014
On the Onset of Modernity in Antiquity

This book searches for the origins of modern thinking in one of the best-known stories of our cultural heritage. By applying institutional and constitutional economics to biblical interpretation, it uses new approach to reconstruct the Paradise story. The author challenges the old conceptual dualism between economics and theology/philosophy.

Introduction 1. Economic Study of the Paradise Story 2. Looming Contest in Paradise 3. The Rise of the Homo Economicus 4. Principal-Agent Conflicts 5. Mutual Gains, Mutual Loss, Prisoner's Dilemma 6. Liberty and Freedom in the Paradise story 7. Modernity of Religion

Sigmund Wagner-Tsukamoto is Lecturer in Business Ethics at the School of Management of the University of Leicester, UK. He has widely published on questions of ethics and economics, including the institutional and constitutional economic analysis of biblical stories. His previous publications include Is God an Economist? (also published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), Human Nature and Organization Theory (2003), and Understanding Green Consumer Behaviour (1997).