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| Belief in hell boosts economic growth |
| 2004-07-28 |
| Economists searching for reasons why some nations are richer than others have found that those with a wide belief in hell are less corrupt and more prosperous, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Researchers at the regional Federal Reserve bank acknowledged the importance of productivity and investment in the economic process but looked at some recent unconventional efforts to explain differences in national prosperity. "In countries where large percentages of the population believe in hell, there seems to be less corruption and a higher standard of living," the St. Louis Fed said in its July quarterly review. For instance, 71 percent of the US population believe in hell and the country boasts the world's highest per capita income, according to the 2003 United Nations Human Development Report and 1990-1993 World Values Survey. Ireland, not far behind the United States in terms of income, likewise has a healthy fear of a nether world with 53 percent of the population acknowledging hell's existence. "I'm not surprised," said the Rev Eileen Lindner, deputy general secretary of the US National Council of Churches, when told of the results. "The expectation that there is a cultural belief in hell or perpetual and eternal punishment for wrongdoing will act as a disincentive to wrongdoing," she said. The St Louis Fed's researchers took a two-step approach to linking religion and the economy. "A belief in hell tends to mean less corruption and less corruption tends to mean a higher per capita income," they wrote. It correlated the belief in hell findings of the World Value Series with a measure of corruption produced by Transparency International. It then looked at the relationship between corruption and per capita gross domestic product and found "a strong tendency for countries with relatively low levels of corruption to have relatively high levels of per capita GDP. Combining these two stories ... suggests that, all else being equal, the more religious a country, the less corruption it will have and the higher its per capita income will be." The researchers also noted the long tradition among classical economists to equate a society's honesty, and the strength of the rule of law, with economic vitality. Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists Inc., called the study the latest gimmick from the religious establishment to drum up government support. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #11 I don’t agree with this study. Take Jews as an example. They are the richest people in the world. They are a corrupt race that still believe in God. |
| Posted by: Ryan 2004-07-28 12:57:23 AM |
| #10 If Kerry's elected...we'll find out. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-07-28 8:36:20 PM |
| #9 Be careful in describing Islamists and hell. Could you tolerate 70 PMS virgins? |
| Posted by: Capt America 2004-07-28 11:03:02 AM |
| #8 #7 I don't think religion or lack thereof has such a simplistic cause-effect on a nation's corruption index. I think transparency of government has a more direct affect on a nation's corruption index, which in turn contributes to GDP together with the average IQ score for the nation. Thank you, rex. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-07-28 5:48:21 AM |
| #7 I don't think religion or lack thereof has such a simplistic cause-effect on a nation's corruption index. I think transparency of government has a more direct affect on a nation's corruption index, which in turn contributes to GDP together with the average IQ score for the nation. A Stanford MBA graduate did a study of how corruption and average IQ of nations affected their GDP. For developing countries if corruption is medium, then IQ has equal importance as a link to GDP. But for under developed countries, if corruption is bad, IQ takes on a very very important link to GDP. Interesting statistics: http://www.sq.4mg.com/corrupt.htm Moral of the story: statistics lie ie. they can be manipulated to support an argument. |
| Posted by: rex 2004-07-28 3:07:11 AM |
| #6 I disagree with this article. If you look at the top 10 nations regarding lack of corruption and prosperity - it is full of mostly irreligous nations like Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands on the one hand; or non-Christian states like Hong Kong and Singapore on the other. Sub-saharan Africa is strongly religous, but is largely dirt-poor and highly corrupt. |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2004-07-28 2:10:59 AM |
| #5 Lets be careful to detail the type of religion they are talking about: Judaeo-Christian basically. Not the Islamofascist. Beating your wife silly because a pseudo religion says so, or robbing your neighbor because he has more than you or is from a different tribe - thats destructive, and has destroyed the nations in which it is the dominant practice. Sudan and Darfur, Afghanistan and Taliban, Palestine, etc. Other than that stipulation, its a simple relationship: Bad actions generate bad consequences. And religious individuals believe that individuals will bear the consequences of their actions. You cannot shuck it off on "bad environment" or blame it on your socioeconomic group or your race, or other leftist claptrap. You made the decision, you bear the consequences. Thats why this correlation is there. Moral thinking and behavior is a positive, and "doing the right thing" pays off - for yourself and those with whom you interact. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-07-28 1:41:18 AM |
| #4 Lol! And your name is really Ryan, lol! FOAD twit. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-07-28 1:05:44 AM |
| #3 [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted] |
| Posted by: Ryan TROLL 2004-07-28 12:57:23 AM |
| #2 "Hell" is sort of the ultimate bitch-slap and wake-up call, lol! Makes sense to me! I offer the following observation as a corollary: English is today both the language of wealth and, more importantly, of aspiration to wealth. A fascinating statistic employed by Bragg compares the net worth of the speakers of various world languages, showing that although there are many more Mandarin-speakers than English-speakers, they are only worth £448bn. Against that Russian-speakers are 'worth' £801bn, German-speakers £1,090bn, Japanese-speakers £1,277bn, but English-speakers are worth a staggering £4,271bn - more than the rest put together. Melvyn Bragg: The Adventure of English, 500 AD TO 2000: The Biography of a Language (hat tip to the Chicago Boyz - from a long ago post...) Draw your own conclusions... |
| Posted by: .com 2004-07-28 12:48:32 AM |
| #1 And then there's Pakistan... |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-07-28 12:40:00 AM |