Jewish Economic Theory and Reflections on Practice

In this chapter, I question the plausibility of the standard theory that Judaism impacts the belief system of American Jews in such a way that it explains their voting tendencies in the US political elections. The fundamental problem with the conventional wisdom is that Judaism is not clearly a set of principles that endorses income redistribution and other social programs that are flagships of the progressive movement in America. In fact, the opposite can also be coherently argued, i.e., that Judaism is a system of thought that aligns itself with the basic principles of economic liberalism.