Rachel Mary McCleary is an American philosopher by training and Senior Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School. She is an associate, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
McCleary’s work is interdisciplinary with theoretical grounding in the fields of political science, sociology, and economics. Within these disciplines, she conducts research on the political economy of religion. Her research focuses on how religion interacts with economic performance and the political and social behavior of individuals and institutions across societies. McCleary studies how religious beliefs and practices influence productivity, economic growth, and the maintenance of political institutions such as democracy.
McCleary has been conducting research in Guatemala since 1994 when she was a Fulbright scholar in that country. She wrote a book on the autogolpe of President Jorge Serrano (1993) called, Dictating Democracy: Guatemala and the End of Violent Revolution(1999). In 1997, the Government of Guatemala appointed McCleary to direct an Inter-American Development Bank project on economic development after the peace accords. She is currently working on religious competition and economic development in Guatemala since the Conquest.
Contents |
Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Religion (editor). (Oxford University Press, 2011); Global Compassion: Private Voluntary Agencies and U.S. Foreign Policy since 1939 to Present (Oxford University Press 2009); Dictating Democracy: Guatemala and the of End Violent Revolution (University Press of Florida, 1999–English; Artemis-Edinter 1999–Spanish); Seeking Justice: Ethics and International Affairs (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992).
"The Economics of Sainthood," (with Robert J. Barro), chapter, Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Religion (2011). [1]
“The Market Approach to the Rise of the Geluk School in Tibet, 1419-1642,” (with Leonard van der Kuijp)Journal of Asian Studies Journal of Asian Studies 69, 1 (2010).
“Religious Conversion in 40 Countries,” (with Robert Barro and Jason Hwang) Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (49, 1 (2010). [2]
“Private Voluntary Organizations Engaged in International Assistance, 1939-2004,” (with Robert Barro) Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 37, 2 (2008).
“Religion and Economic Development: A Two-way Causation,” Policy Review 148, April – May 2008.
“The Economics of Religion and Secularization,” The Review of Faith & International Affairs, Spring 2007.
“Salvation, Damnation, and Economic Incentives,” Journal of Contemporary Religion, January 2007.
“Religion and Political Economy in an International Panel,” (with Robert Barro) Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, June 2006.
“Religion and Econom,” (with Robert Barro) Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 2006.
“Political Economy and Religion in the Spirit of Max Weber,” in Victor Nee and Richard Swedberg, eds., Spirit of Global Capitalism, Stanford University Press, 2006 (with Robert Barro).
“Which Countries Have State Religions?” (with Robert Barro) Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 2005.
“Religion and Economy,” Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2005.
“Religion and Economic Growth,” (with Robert Barro) Milken Institute Review, April 2004.
“Religion and Economic Growth Across Countries,” (with Robert Barro) American Sociological Review, October 2003.