ABSTRACT
The science of economics deals with institutions, allocation of resources and the rational organization of society. The basic assumption behind most economic theory is that the best society is the one whose members are the happiest; economists call happiness utility. In a market economy, producers decide what they want to produce independently of other producers and consumers, and they only maximize their own individual profit given the prices and wages in society. The price is the coordinating signal between producers and consumers. Institutions are the rules of the game in a society or, more formally, are the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction. According to Douglass North, institutions can be divided into three different parts: formal constraints, informal constraints and enforcement. A religious community consists of some very tangible elements, such as buildings, land and cemeteries, but a lot of them have considerable sentimental value.
