Lucy Grinker

Against the backdrop of well-documented secularisation in Western developed countries, belief in astrology has remained puzzlingly persistent. This phenomenon has received little attention in economics, despite evidence of renewed interest during times of economic stress and a growing literature in developing contexts showing that astrological beliefs can distort economic behaviour (Fisman et al., 2022; Ciscato et al., 2024; Lu, et al., 2020; Tan, et al., 2024). This project addresses that gap in two parts. First, I examine the determinants of belief in astrology of individuals across 27 countries, making use of four waves of the International Social Survey Programme. Second, I analyse the content of daily U.S. newspaper horoscopes from 1970 to 1995, drawing on a novel database of texts from the most widely-published American astrologers. By mapping how content varies across time, and in response to economic shocks, the project sheds light on why and how belief in horoscopes persists in the face of uncertainty.