TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Rapoport, Hillel
AU  - Weiss, Avi
        TI  - In-Group Cooperation in a Hostile Environment: An Economic Perspective on Some Aspects of Jewish Life in (Pre-Modern) Diaspora
        PY  - 2002/Apr/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 483
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp483
        AB  - The demographic history of the Jews in the Middle Ages may be characterized by two main
phenomena: i) a sharp drop in the number of Jews until the beginning of the modern period,
due mainly to conversions; and, ii) early urbanization. Until now, these features have been
analyzed as primarily resulting from persecution and restrictions initiated by the political and
religious authorities in the host countries. Economic historians have recently proposed an
explanation based on mandatory education in the Jewish tradition (Botticini and Eckstein,
2001). We propose a supplementary explanation based on the incentives to switch affiliation
and/or location in a dual environment, where potential gains from in-group cooperation for the
Jewish minority may well be offset by losses due to intergroup hostility. Our model generates
the two results described above (i.e., a decrease in the total number of Jews, and their
concentration in urban areas), without having to rely either on discrimination policies or on
investment in human capital, as in previous research.
        KW  - cooperation
KW  - economic history of the Jews
KW  - ethnic minorities
KW  - economic history of the Jews
KW  - hostility
KW  - ethnic minorities
KW  - altruism
KW  - cooperation
KW  - altruism
KW  - hostility
        ER  -