A Public Choice Perspective on the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria

Abstract

This chapter begins with the life of Salem Village’s minister, Samuel Parris, before arriving in Salem Village in 1689, and continues forward through the early years of his ministry and the witchcraft hysteria that follows. The witchcraft hysteria is examined through a public choice economics lens, which combines the principles of economics with those of political science. Within this model, the witchcraft hysteria is described as a demand-pull phenomenon in the market for eternal salvation, thus following earlier research on the public choice economics of the Roman Catholic Church. The chapter concludes with an empirical examination of the relationship between Puritan church membership and participation in the Salem witch trials of 1692.