Sarah M. Estelle is a research fellow of the CRCD, associate professor of economics at Hope College (Holland, MI), and the founding director of Hope’s Markets & Morality student program.

An applied microeconomist by training, Estelle has published empirical research on parenting investments, higher education, welfare policy, and criminal justice reform. More recently, her work has focused on themes at the intersection of traditional Christian teaching and economics, including complementary principles for authority as found in theology and the work of F.A. Hayek, the importance of economic wisdom for understanding Christian love of neighbor, the practical application of economics to loving, and the economic concepts of efficiency and comparative advantage seen as stewardship. She is currently working on a project that will bridge these two veins of research interest, using statistical methods to better understand the distribution of legal protections for religious free exercise in the United States.

Estelle obtained her B.A. in economics from Hillsdale College and earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Virginia.

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The Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy envisions democratic societies which affirm the essential role of religious convictions, peoples, and institutions in cultivating free and flourishing communities.

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