Believing in Hell Has Its Benefits
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.
Um, Lawd have moicy!
Hello, Correlation? Yeah, this is Causation. Listen: you don’t imply me, got it? Could you pass that along to the economists? Thanks. Gotta run, talk to ya later.
I give that a three… out of five.
I can’t believe they used Ireland as an example of this.
Yes, Ireland’s turnaround from an economic backwater of Europe (and the scene of mass starvation a few years further back) is surely do to an increasingly prevalent belief in Hell.
I would place good money on there being less believers in hell in Ireland now, in its affluence, than there was when it was stricken by poverty, which would very much go against their bizarre findings.
Now that I have some breakfast and caffeine in me, I think you are being generous.
[quote=“Odysseus”]
Now that I have some breakfast and caffeine in me, I think you are being generous.[/quote]
Well, it was originally going to be a 2.5, but you know… your heart was in the right place, and it was good effort. It’s just that there’s one big plot hole… why would Causation call Correlation to let her know that she doesn’t imply him? Wouldn’t Correlation already know that? Plus, why would Causation assume that Correlation would be able to get in touch with the economists any more readily that he could? It was a good effort but, yeah… definitely some plot holes.
Considering that the Nordic nations traditionally are in the top of the low-corruption scales, and our belief in hell is rather doubtful, I’m… well, doubtful.
Isn’t this just a way to say that south east Asia and China are more corrupt than Western democracies?
Right… they’re less corrupt, because they don’t believe in hell. Haven’t you been paying attention, Anders?
Chinese here.
We have a hell too. In fact, we have very many hells. Didn’t stop the Chinese Government from being one of the most corrupted ever since the Qin Dynasty.
As for why some nations are more prosperous than others, I read somewhere that it could be due to food production, imperialism, general violence and various other socio-ecological reasons.
Jesus, people, you’re all missing the point. They have too much corruption because most of their cities are too far from the capital. DUH. They need to move it, but they don’t have enough shields to do it quickly. It’s a darn conundrum.
Surprise surprise, they fucked up the math:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_07/004413.php
There is a seriously strong correlation between Protestantism and wealth, probably due to Protestantism’s(I seriously don’t know the word here, so bear with me) mostly hands off nature and it’s cultural emphasis on work ethic.
Hands off nature?
Laissez National Park?
Max Weber originated this theory, I think. Unfortunately, your sample size is like really 3 or so.
extarbags- Protestantism doesn’t mess with it’s adherent’s lives. There’s no bullshit about praying to Mecca 5 times a day, tithing away your income, not working on given days, etc.
Protestantism requires a few hours every Sunday morning and that’s about it.
Jason- The sample size is crazy small, but the logic is plausible and while the number of countries is small the richness of those countries is very high.
Sure, but China and the Muslim world kicked the Protestant world’s ass for years and years before they made a couple of blunders. I’m more of a Jared Diamond-geography-and-resources guy myself.
Counterexample. Calvinist Scots were crazy poor, especially compared to the insanely wealthy Calvinist Dutchmen, and Scotland today is not exactly breaking any trends there either.