About

Murat Iyigun is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Colorado. His work includes research on topics such as war, peace, and prosperity, with a focus on the role of religion and demographic factors in economic development. He has contributed to the understanding of how religious conflicts and demographic changes influence economic outcomes and stability. His research has been published in journals such as the Journal of Demographic Economics, and he is affiliated with the Regents of the University of Colorado.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Social Science
• Political Science
• Epistemology
• Art
• Law
• Philosophy
• Literature
• Aesthetics

Selected publications

• Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis

  The Quarterly Journal of Economics · 2025-11-27 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract We trace the evolution of the language of science, religion, and political economy in the centuries leading to the British Industrial Revolution. Using textual analysis of 264,443 works printed in England between 1500 and 1900, we test whether British culture manifested a belief in progress associated with science and industry. Our analysis yields three main findings. First, there was a separation in the languages of science and religion beginning in the mid-eighteenth century. Second, volumes using language at the nexus of science and political economy became more progress-oriented during the Enlightenment. Third, volumes using industrial language—especially those at the science-political economy nexus—were more progress-oriented beginning in the eighteenth century.

  PublisherDOI

• Trapped in Purgatory? The Impact of Divorce Laws on Women's Welfare with Separation

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• The Intensifying Effects of Prolonged Climate Change on Conflict, 1400–1900 CE

  AEA Papers and Proceedings · 2024-05-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  This study uses historical conflict and weather data for the period 1400-1900 CE to investigate the long-run effects of climate change on political instability in a context that suffered extensive cooling. The results show that temperature changes have little effect on conflict if they are isolated events but that consecutive periods of cooling are associated with increased conflict. This is consistent with the conventional wisdom that societies and economies are able to adapt to a certain amount of environmental change. But if climate change is prolonged, then the disruptions they cause can cumulate and lead to political instability.

  PublisherDOI

• Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-Up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023 · 4 citations

  • Sociology
  • Social Science
  • Political Science
  PublisherDOI

• Putting the Husband Through: The Role of Credit Constraints in the Timing of Marriage and Spousal Education

  Journal of Labor Economics · 2022-03-04 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  In the United States, age at first marriage was lowest and the education gap between husbands and wives was highest during the 1950s. The conventional explanation for such a negative correlation is that early marriage leads to earlier and higher fertility, which in turn prevents women from acquiring education. Here, we propose that early marriages enabled couples to overcome credit constraints in education. A model that includes this motive and mechanism can replicate not only the marriage and education patterns observed in the middle of the century in the United States but also the overall trends over the twentieth century.

  PublisherDOI

• A theory of cultural revivals

  European Economic Review · 2021-04-07

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 10. Religious Coexistence, Social Peace, and Prosperity

  2019-12-31

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Causes and Consequences of Monotheism in the Supply of Religion

  2019-01-01 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• 11. Meanwhile, in the Orient...

  2019-12-31

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• 7. Those Harem Nights

  2019-12-31

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Ann L. Owen

  Hamilton College

  64 shared

• Nancy Qian

  Bread for the World Institute

  62 shared

• Nathan Nunn

  60 shared

• Yoram Weiss

  45 shared

• Avner Greif

  33 shared

• Pierre‐André Chiappori

  25 shared

• Jared Rubin

  Chapman University

  16 shared

• Andrew T. Levin

  Dartmouth College

  13 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Economics

  Brown University

  1995

• M.A., Economics

  Brown University

• Other, Finance and Economics

  Boston University

• B.S., Business Administration

  Hacettepe University

Awards & honors

• Founding Fellow of the Association for Analytical Learning o…