Ch. 1. 70 CE-1492 : How many Jews were there, and where and how did they live?
From Jesus to Muhammad (I CE-622) : a world of farmers ; From Muhammad to Hulagu Khan (622-1258) : farmers to merchants ; From Hulagu Khan to Tomás de Torquemada (1258-1492) : the end of the Golden Age ; Jewish history, 70 CE-1492 : puzzles
Ch. 2. Were the Jews a persecuted minority?
Restrictions on Jewish economic activities ; Taxation discrimination ; Physical versus portable human capital ; Self-segregation religious minority ; The economics of small minorities ; summary
Ch. 3. The people of the Book, 200 BCE-200 CE
The two pillars of Judaism from Ezra to Hillel (500-50BCE) : the temple and the Torah ; The lever of Judaism : education as a religious norm ; The destruction of the second temple : from ritual sacrifices to Torah reading and study ; The legacy of Rabbinic Judaism : the Mishma and universal primary education, 10 CE-200 ; Judaism and education : the unique link in the world of Mishna
Ch. 4. The economics of Hebrew literacy in a world of farmers
Heterogeneity and the choices facing Jewish farmers circa 200 ; The economic theory : basic setup ; The economic theory : predictions ; Life in a village in the Galillee circa 200 through the lens of the theory ; Annex 4. A : formal model of education and conversion of farmers
Ch. 5. Jews in the Talmud Era, 200-650 : the chosen few
An increasingly literate farming society ; Conversions of Jewish farmers ; summary
Ch. 6. From farmers to merchants, 750-1150
The economics of Hebrew literacy in a world of merchants ; The Golden Age of literate Jews in the Muslim caliphates ; summary ; Annex 6. A : formal model of education and conversion of merchants
Ch. 7. Educated wandering Jews, 800-1250
Wandering Jews before Marco Polo ; Jewish migration within the Muslim caliphates ; Migration of the Jewish religious center ; summary
Ch. 8. Segregation or choice? From merchants to moneylenders, 1000-1500
The economics of money and credit in Medieval Europe ; Jewish prominence in moneylending : hypotheses ; The dynamics of Jewish Moneylending in Medieval Europe ; Jewish moneylending in Medieval Italy : a detailed analysis ; Attitudes toward moneylending ; Facts and competing hypotheses ; From merchants to moneylenders : comparative advantage in complex intermediaton ; Annex 8. A : the charter to the Jews of Vienna
Ch. 9. The Mongol shock : can Judaism survive when trade and urban economies collapse?
The Mongol conquest of the Muslim Middle East ; Socioeconomic conditions in the Middle East under the Mongols ; Jewish demography under Mongol and Mamluk rule : an experiment ; Why Judaism cannot survive when trade and urban economies collapse ; summary
Ch. 10. 1492 to today : open questions
Portrait of world Jewry circa 1492 ; Jewish history, 70 CE-1492 : epilogue ; Trajectory of the Jewish people over the past 500 years ; Persistence of Jewish occupational structure
