[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-133999-en":3,"doc-seo-133999-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},133999,1374402968488,"Đào","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0",8,"Research & Report","The royal touch - Mystical Healing Ritual Economics","The paper examines the royal touch, a medieval–early modern English and French healing ritual in which monarchs attempted to cure scrofula through physical contact. It applies rational choice and public choice economics to explain the ritual’s persistence: monarchs used it to signal divine favor and secure political legitimacy, while patients accepted it as low-cost, non-invasive, and consistent with beliefs about miraculous efficacy. Self-limiting disease dynamics and selective patient choice reinforced perceived benefit. Decline followed secularism, waning confidence in monarchy, and medical advances.","The royal touch  \nVladimir V. Maltsev1 · Alicia M. Plemmons2  \nReceived: 15 July 2024 / Accepted: 7 July 2025 © The Author(s) 2025  \nAbstract  \nThis paper examines the royal touch, a thaumaturgic healing ritual in which the monarchs of medieval-early modern England and France attempted to cure scrofula through physical contact with the afflicted. Using rational choice theory, we explain how this esoteric practice endured for so long. Monarchs engaged in the royal touch to secure political legitimacy and popular support by projecting divine favor and Christian benevolence, especially in times of instability or dynastic uncertainty. Meanwhile, patients willingly participated in the royal touch as it was a cheap and non-invasive procedure that was consistent with their belief in the efficacy of miracles. This belief was reinforced by scrofula’s self-limiting nature and by the monarchs’ strategic selection of likely-to-recover individuals. The practice ultimately faded with the spread of secularism, disillusionment in monarchy as a viable form of governance, and advancements in medical science. Our key finding is that mystical healing rituals persist when both patients and monarchs perceive them as net beneficial within their specific institutional and historical contexts.  \nKeywords Royal touch · Scrofula · Rational choice · Public choice economics · Health economics · Royal thaumaturgy  \nJEL Classification I19 · N13 · Z12 · K49  \n1 Introduction  \nThroughout history we can find long-lasting examples of thaumaturgical healing, which relies on supernatural powers and esoteric knowledge to cure illnesses or disorders (Waddle 1909) . Such healing practices survive even in modern developed societies, ranging from treatments of evil eye and demonic possession (Dallas et al. 2020) to natural stones cures (Kutlu et al. 2022) and remedies based off old wives’ tales (RootBernstein and Root-Bernstein 1998) . Although thaumaturgic healing may confound a  \n* Vladimir V. Maltsev [vladimir.maltsev@glasgow.ac.uk](vladimir.maltsev@glasgow.ac.uk)  \nAlicia M. Plemmons  \n[alicia.plemmons@mail.wvu.edu](alicia.plemmons@mail.wvu.edu)  \n1 University of Glasgow, Adam Smith Business School, Glasgow, Scotland  \n2 Department of General Business, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA  \nskeptical reader, its endurance should lead social scientists to presume efficiency (Stigler 1992 ; Albrecht et al. 2022) . Historically persistent thaumaturgy must have been perceived as net beneficial for both practitioners and patients within their particular historical context – otherwise such healing methods would have not survived, especially when conducted side-by-side with professional medical treatments.  \nTo help further our economic understanding of mystical healing and its longevity, this paper analyzes the royal touch, a famous thaumaturgical ritual practiced in England and France from the late 13th to eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, respectively. During this ritual, monarchs touched the sores of individuals afflicted with a disease called scrofula, popularly known as the King’s Evil. Scrofula is a form of tuberculosis caused by bovine bacterium mycobacterium bovis, with symptoms ranging from mild fever to lesions and tumorous neck growths. Scrofula is a self-limiting disease which may enter spontaneous remission and improve or disappear without medical intervention. This characteristic was not commonly understood during the royal touch’s prevalence. Instead, there existed a belief that scrofula could be miraculously cured by the monarch’s laying hands on the sick (Bloch 1973 ; Brogan 2015, 3) . The scale of the practice was impressive, with monarchs such as Charles II touching around 96,000 individuals throughout their reign, and French monarchs such as Louis XIV touching up to 3000 individuals in a single day. Despite its esoteric nature, the royal touch co-existed with professional medical treatments, and physicians recommended its use for centurie","cbCaioWrNxTmNT8I","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaioWrNxTmNT8I","pdf",737019,2,1,22,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Background of thaumaturgical healing\n## The royal touch and scrofula\n## Costs, benefits, and institutional endurance\n## Theoretical framework and literature\n## Contribution of the study","[{\"question\":\"What was the royal touch ritual and which illness did it target?\",\"answer\":\"Monarchs touched the sores of people afflicted with scrofula, popularly known as the King’s Evil. The practice was intended to bring about miraculous healing through contact.\"},{\"question\":\"Why did the royal touch persist for centuries despite its esoteric character?\",\"answer\":\"The paper argues persistence came from net perceived benefits within the historical context. Monarchs gained political legitimacy and public support, while patients were encouraged by beliefs in miracles, low costs, and non-invasiveness.\"},{\"question\":\"What factors led to the royal touch fading away?\",\"answer\":\"It declined as secularism spread, as people became disillusioned with monarchy as a governance form, and as medical science improved. Reduced net benefits for both monarchs and patients also played a role.\"}]","The royal touch - Mystical Healing Ritual Economics | PDF",1787231192,55,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":29},"the-royal-touch-mystical-healing-ritual-economics","",{"@graph":37,"@context":86},[38,54,69],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,48,51],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-royal-touch-mystical-healing-ritual-economics/133999/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":42,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-02","2026-08-20",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"What was the royal touch ritual and which illness did it target?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"Monarchs touched the sores of people afflicted with scrofula, popularly known as the King’s Evil. The practice was intended to bring about miraculous healing through contact.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"Why did the royal touch persist for centuries despite its esoteric character?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"The paper argues persistence came from net perceived benefits within the historical context. Monarchs gained political legitimacy and public support, while patients were encouraged by beliefs in miracles, low costs, and non-invasiveness.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"What factors led to the royal touch fading away?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"It declined as secularism spread, as people became disillusioned with monarchy as a governance form, and as medical science improved. 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