July 28, 2004
WHY EXCEPTIONAL:
Belief in hell boosts economic growth (Alister Bull, 7/27/04, Reuters)
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 in the United States.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.
The St Louis Fed drew on work by outside economists who studied 35 countries, including the United States, European nations, Japan, India and Turkey and found that religion shed some useful light.
"In countries where 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 U.S. 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.
Still wonder why secular Europe is declining? Posted by Orrin Judd at July 28, 2004 9:01 AM
Uh-huh.
Except that "secular" Europe contains some of the world's richest and most productive nations.
It seems more likely that, since the world's richest nations are largely European or former European colonies, they're also predominantly Christian, and believe in Hell.
Taking bribes is largely a cultural activity, and so in places where it's common and expected, it's not seen as a "sin".
There are plenty of Central and South American countries that are strongly Catholic, and thoroughly corrupt.
Michael:
But in decline from the point at which they too believed.
Posted by: oj at July 28, 2004 1:38 PMBuddhists believe in hell but are notably poor.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 28, 2004 2:36 PMnot a hell, but Hell--it needs to be a behavioral enforcement mechanism
Posted by: oj at July 28, 2004 2:59 PMHarry:
Not the ones who donated to Clinton and Al Gore.
Posted by: jim hamlen at July 28, 2004 2:59 PMWhat is the operating mechanism here, storing up enough money to bribe your way into Heaven? Didn't Jesus say that a camel will pass through the eye of a needle more easily than a rich man will pass through the gates of Heaven?
Posted by: Robert Duquette at July 28, 2004 3:55 PMJesus didn't have a family to feed.
Posted by: oj at July 28, 2004 4:02 PMHarry:
Buddhists are also notorious for denying, or attempting to deny, the trappings of what we call "materialism" (not your conception of it, which is probably atheistic, but the more worldly sense of the word).
That would seem to be an important variable too, no?
Posted by: Matt at July 28, 2004 7:08 PMProbably.
I think the whole idea of linking Hell and prosperity is weird.
The Presbyterians linked Heaven, or at least the hope of Heaven, and prosperity.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 28, 2004 10:49 PMSeen Trainspotting?
Posted by: oj at July 28, 2004 11:04 PMNope.
I also grew up in a society that believed deeply in Hell. It was the poorest part of the country.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 29, 2004 3:04 PMAnd the richest part of the world. Right religious belief isn't sufficient, buit it's necessary.
Posted by: oj at July 29, 2004 3:15 PMI don't think you realize how poor east Tennessee was pre-Roosevelt.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 29, 2004 9:56 PMNor you how poor the rest of the world.
Posted by: oj at July 30, 2004 12:41 AM