Indiana University East’s School of Business and Economics Fall Speaker Series will host the next speaker Anthony Gill, Ph.D., professor of political science at the University of Washington. He will give two presentations on Wednesday, October 24, and Thursday, October 25.

Anthony Gill

The first presentation is “Tipping Points: An Economic Defense of Gratuities” at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, October 23, in Whitewater Hall Room 132.

This presentation discusses how the time-honored tradition of tipping wait staff at restaurants has come under fire recently, both in the private marketplace and the voting booth. Several restaurants have chosen to provide their employees with a “living wage” in lieu of having customers leave gratuities. Moreover, the passage of I-77 in Washington, D.C. raising baseline wages of wait staff will put pressure on eating establishments to downplay tipping.

Gill argues that although tipping may be an unpopular practice, it is an efficient institution that benefits restaurant owners, employees, and customers. He demonstrates how gratuities solve principal-agent problems and incentivize for voluntary price discrimination that allows eateries to reach a broader customer base. Moreover, the custom of tipping is one ritualistic source of building trust within society that lubricates the wheels of commerce. This presentation is guaranteed to get everyone talking.

The second presentation is “The Comparative Endurance and Efficiency of Religion” at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 24, and will be held in Springwood Hall Room 203.

Despite being largely neglected by political economists studying social organization, the world’s major religious institutions have managed to survive longer than any secular political regime, dynasty, or empire. The surprising resilience of religion across the ages presents an interesting puzzle to be explored. The Roman Catholic Church has existed as a formal hierarchical organization for nearly two millennia, and the Vatican counts roughly one billion adherents among its contemporary constituency. Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam have persisted in less hierarchical forms for equally long (if not longer) periods of time with no prospect of disappearing soon. Why do religions endure but secular states and social movements often fail?

Gill will argue that such religious institutions provided needed public goods, including societal trust, without falling prey to what James Buchanan calls the paradox of government. By having an “external judge” (i.e., God) as a final arbitrator of conflict, a system of justice that allows for flexibility, and autonomy for local congregations to solve social problems and provide public goods, religious institutions are less subject to injurious forms of rent-seeking.

In addition to his professorship, Gill is a Distinguished Research Scholar at Baylor University’s Institute for the Study of Religion, and former research associate at the Religious Freedom Project at Georgetown’s Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs. He is the author of Rendering Unto Caesar and The Political Origins of Religious Liberty, which received the American Sociological Association’s Section on Religion’s Distinguished Book Award.

While still writing on religious liberty, Gill’s current research agenda is shifting to understanding the role of cultural norms in coordinating human behavior (as opposed to government regulation). He teaches courses in political economy, public choice, and religion and politics. He earned the UW’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 1999. Gill also enjoys boxing, hiking, scuba diving, camping, fantasy football, Golden Retrievers, billiards, target shooting, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and all things cowboy.

The Fall Speaker Series is sponsored by the Charles Koch Foundation and co-sponsored by Delta Mu Delta, the IU East Business and Economic Research Center, the IU East Center for Economic Education, School of Nursing and Health Sciences and the Department of Criminal Justice and Political Science.

Upcoming Fall Speaker Series Presentations

• Anthony Gill, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington
• Date/Time: Wednesday, October 23, 2 p.m.
• Location: Whitewater Hall Room 132
• Topic: “Tipping Points” An Economic Defense of Gratuities

• Date/Time: Thursday, October 24, 12:30 p.m.
• Location: Springwood Hall Room 203
• Topic: The Comparative Endurance and Efficiency of Religion

• Robert Lawson, Professor at Southern Methodist University
• Date/Time: Thursday, November 7, 12:30 p.m.
• Location: Springwood Hall Room 203
• Topic: Socialism Sucks: Two Economists Drink Their Way Through the Unfree World

• Punyamurtula Kishore, M.D., Founder of Preventive Medicine Associates, Addiction Medicine Associates, and National Library of Addiction
  Co-sponsored by the School of Nursing and Health Sciences.
• Date/Time: Wednesday, November 13, 9:30 a.m.
• Location: Whitewater Hall Room 132
• Topic: The Language of Addiction & Recovery
• Date/Time: Wednesday, November 13, 4:30 p.m.
• Location: Tom Raper Hall Room 124
• Topic: Addiction and Its Effects on Families/the U.S. Population

• Jake Monaghan, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of New Orleans
  Co-sponsored by the Department of Criminal Justice and Political Science.
• Date/Time: Wednesday, November 13, 12:30 p.m.
• Location: Springwood Hall Rooms 203 and 211
• Topic: Ethics for Police: Lessons from the Opioid Epidemic