The curious economic effects of religion – The Boston Globe
Fascinatin’!
What makes economies grow? It’s a question that has occupied thinkers for centuries. Most of us would tick off things like education levels, openness to trade, natural resources, and political systems.
Here’s one you might not have considered: hell.
A pair of Harvard researchers recently examined 40 years of data from dozens of countries, trying to sort out the economic impact of religious beliefs or practices. They found that religion has a measurable effect on developing economies – and the most powerful influence relates to how strongly people believe in hell.
[From The curious economic effects of religion - The Boston Globe]
The data and interpretations on this are mixed. Belief in hell produces positive outcomes unless church attendance rises, for example. Most likely it is not the actual thought of hell that influences economic behavior. Rather, belief in hell (or Satan) has long been recognized as one of the single best predictors of strongly orthodox belief. It’s a proxy measure for that belief, in other words—but a nicely sensational one to report on. All in all I think the best analysis of the research is what the author said: “The work is preliminary, but offers the hope of useful findings.”
In the meantime, I found this attitude surprising:
What’s emerging is a clearer picture of how nations’ prosperity can depend, in part, on seemingly abstract concerns like theology – and sometimes on quite nuanced points of belief or religious fervor.
I understand that economists have traditionally thought in terms of an “enlightened self-interest” model of economic decision-making, where “self-interest” generally means personal economic advancement, and not much besides. But isn’t it high time academia recognized that what people believe affects how they act?
The church attendance part is curious. It would be interesting to see the details as to what they mean. Percentage of people attending once a week? Total hours spent overall? Do home gatherings count?
I could see once or twice a week being good, but more than that reducing productivity. (I only skimmed the article.)
Tom, didn’t you have a post that church attendance played a big role in divorce statistics?
A sociology prof at my university who studies religion (and who happens to be an evangelical Christian) was not impressed.
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/university/ut-professor-challenges-harvard-economic-study-1.2091200
Hopefully Christians will resist the tendency to use this kind of work to promote Christianity. Rodney Stark does something very much like this.
Yet, it is prudent to keep in mind that all sorts of horrible things can promote productivity (say, fear of gas chambers, or unrealistic belief in future prosperity).