Jean-Paul Carvalho

I am an economist and game theorist with a specialization in political economy and social dynamics.

The basic building blocks of economic models are beliefs, preferences, and constraints (BPC). My work examines how these BPC are produced through (i) social interaction and (ii) political institutions. The following processes are key:
 

• Cultural transmission of preferences
• Evolution of belief systems
• Social learning and norms
• Identity and group formation
   

Incorporating these processes into economic theory expands its scope. My work has been applied to the following topics:
 

• Social determinants of education/labor market outcomes
• Structural inequality
• Political economy under diversity
• Economic determinants of religiosity
• Extremism and Conflict

The overarching theme is that economic behavior cannot be disentangled from the social and political context in which it is embedded.

I have also contributed to this program by co-editing the volume Advances in the Economics of Religion (Palgrave 2019),  and currently serving as Executive Committee member of the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences, Board Member of the Association for the Study of Religion, Economics and Culture (ASREC), Board Member and Faculty Fellow of the Association for Analytic Learning about Islam and Muslim Societies (AALIMS), Core Associate of the Network for Economic Research on Identity, Norms and Narratives (ERINN),  Associate of Theoretical Research in Development Economics (ThReD), Faculty Affiliate of the Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization Center (ACO), and the Center for Global Peace & Conflict Studies (CGPACS) and the Religious Studies Program at UC Irvine.

I am Associate Professor of Economics (primary) and Logic & Philosophy of Science (courtesy) at the University of California-Irvine, where I teach game theory and political economy. I have  been a visiting scholar at Harvard, Oxford, NYU, Stanford and Warwick.

I was educated at the University of Oxford (DPhil, MPhil, Monash scholar) and the University of Western Australia.

• Elite Identity and Political Accountability: A Tale of Ten Islands (with Christian Dippel), The Economic Journal, forthcoming  [Online Appendix] 
• Religion and Terrorism: The Religious Utility Hypothesis conditional acceptance, Handbook of the Economics of Terrorism, A. Basuchoudhary and G. Schulze (Eds.), Cambridge University Press. 
• Religious Clubs: The Strategic Role of Religious Identity, in Carvalho, Iyer and Rubin (Eds.), Advances in the Economics of Religion, 2019, Palgrave. 
• Education, Social Mobility and Religious Movements: The Islamic Revival in Egypt (with Christine Binzel). The Economic Journal, 2017, 127, 2553-2580. [working paper version] Online Appendix Press Release
• Sacrifice and Sorting in Clubs. Forum for Social Economics (special  issue on The Economics of Religion), forthcoming. [working paper version]  
• Coordination and Culture. Economic Theory, 2017, 64(3), 449–475 . [working paper version]
• Education, Identity and Community: Lessons from Jewish Emancipation (with Mark Koyama and Michael Sacks), Public Choice, 2017, 171(1), 119–143. [working paper version]  
• Jewish Emancipation and Schism: Economic Development and Religious Change (with Mark Koyama).  Journal of Comparative Economics, 2016, 44(3), 562-584. [working paper version]
• Identity-Based Organizations. American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, 2016, 106(5), 410–414. [working paper version]
• Veiling. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2013, 128(1), 337-370.
• Instincts and Institutions: The Rise of the Market (with Mark Koyama) in William N. Butos (ed.),  Advances in Austrian Economics, 2010, 13, 285-309.

• Identity and Underrepresentation  (with Bary Pradelski)
• Radicalization (with Michael Sacks) 
• The Economics of Religious Communities (with Michael Sacks)
• Markets and Communities: Tensions and Possible Solutions
• Resisting Education (with Mark Koyama).  [Under Revision] 

• Advances in the Economics of Religion, co-edited with Sriya Iyer and Jared Rubin, Palgrave 2019.

Course in Evolution and Learning in Games

Syllabus 

Lectures

1. The Rational Agent and Its Limitations
2. The Interactive Knowledge Problem
3. Social Learning
4. Evolution in Games
5. Learning Protocols
6. Deterministic Dynamics
7. Evolutionary Stability
8. Local Stability
9. Cultural Transmission
10. Stochastic Dynamics
11. Stochastic Stability
12. Emergence of Segregation
13. Adaptive Play
14. Bargaining Conventions
15. Games Played on Networks
16. Heterogeneous Agents
17. Fast Convergence

Religion & Cultural Transmission (ASREC Grad Workshop)

Lecture

Note on Replicator Dynamic