The Wall Separating Church And Economics is being breached. “More and more scholars have been using conventional economic methods to understand the way in which religion relates to the rest of society, and to the economy in particular,” says George Mason University professor Laurence R. Iannaccone. In a paper published in the American Sociological Review, Robert J. Barro and Rachel M. McCleary, a Harvard based husband-and-wife team, set out to investigate the correlation between variables like church attendance and belief in heaven and hell and comparative economic growth rates from ‘65 to ‘95. The study seems to confirm the assumption that greater economic development is associated with less religiosity. Why? Religion can affect economics by fostering beliefs that influence productivity-enhancing traits like thrift, hard work and honesty. A wide-spread feeling that such behavior may ultimately be rewarded (a belief in heaven), or that a lack of such behavior may be punished (a belief in hell) may spur economic growth. If more people and resources are devoted to holding religious services without producing the desired output (a higher level of belief), that tends to lessen productivity in an economy. In other words, countries’ economies may perform best when people have relatively higher levels of religious belief than participation. Among the nations falling into this category are Japan, South Korea, Singapore and some Scandinavian countries. Countries in which belief was low compared with religious participation included India and many in Latin America. Scholars agree a lot more and better data is needed before we can be confident about the results. It’s almost impossible to live in the 21st century and look around and say that religion has no impact. (NY Times 10/3/04)
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