Home
 
Orthodox News

• Last Week's Edition

• Archives

• Search Engine

Submissions

• Policy

• Send

Email us

Support Us!

• Donations

Nonprofit Ministries

The Orthodox Christian Laity

• OCN Website

• The Video -  "A New Era Begins"

The Orthodox Christian News Service

Published by The Moscow Times, August 5, 2004

Hell Is Good for You, Say Economists

By Greg Walters
Staff Writer

What the Russian economy really needs is a good dose of hellfire and brimstone, according to a new study by economists at the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

The report, titled "Fear of Hell Might Fire Up the Economy," examines 35 countries around the world and finds that when a large portion of the population believes in hell, incomes tend to be higher. A healthy fear of divine retribution, the authors argue, helps cut down on corruption, which, in turn, bolsters the economy.

"In countries where large percentages of the population believe in hell, there seem to be less corruption and a higher standard of living," the report finds.

Sixteen percent of Russians believe in hell, which contributes to a relatively low annual income of $7,100 per person, according to the study. By contrast, 71 percent of Americans believe in hell. The average U.S. citizen earns $34,320.

The authors, Kevin Kliesen and Frank Schmid, say that traditional economic factors like technology, property rights and education are significant when accounting for long-term growth. But, they write, "Some economists believe they do not go far enough. Instead, many researchers are increasingly turning to noneconomic factors, such as religion."

But if fear of hell really does help the economy in the long run, there are plenty of exceptions to the rule. Turkey leads the pack in the hell-fearing department, according to the study, but has a lower per capita income than Russia. In some advanced European economies, like Germany and the Netherlands, few fear hell.

Poland has the most religious and highest-earning population of post-communist countries in the survey. Fifty-four percent of the country's majority Catholic population believes in hell, enough to give Poland third-place after the United States.

Only one Bulgarian in 10 believes hell is real, and Bulgarians earned slightly less than Russians did last year.

On the other hand, Romanians are more afraid of hell than Russians, but make less money. Only 10 percent of Belarussians and Latvian fear hell, but both have average incomes higher than Russians.

In Nigeria, the lowest earner on the list with $850 per capita, 51 percent believe in hell.

Religious authorities in Russia agreed that eternal damnation, or at least the fear of it, is a good thing.

"A belief in hell helps not only the earthly economy, but also the divine economy -- the understanding of all of human nature," said Archimandrite Zacchaeus, dean of St. Catherine the Great Martyr Church and representative of the Orthodox Church in America to the Moscow Patriarchate. "We know that the belief in hell is a true belief. But as much as fear of hell helps you from being corrupt, I feel that a love for God will help you even more from being corrupt."

In February, the Russian Orthodox Church endorsed a declaration on appropriate business practices that it says are based on the Ten Commandments.

"Honesty and professionalism in relations with a client or business partner will win trust and strengthen a firm's economic position," the document says. "Playing dishonest games will doom a business to unavoidable destruction."

The document calls paying taxes a moral imperative, since part of tax revenue benefits the orphans, the disabled and the elderly. Businesses are advised to always declare their political donations and newspapers are told never to take bribes in exchange for coverage. Capital flight is "equivalent to robbing one's countrymen."

Mark, Bishop of Yegoryevsk, a spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate, said improving the business climate is part of the church's duty.

"For us, it is an important task," he said. "We are trying to do our best."

But others say that bolstering civil society is good for the economy, and that religious institutions are a part of that equation.

Some economists poured cold water on the idea that fear of hell would boost Russia's economic prospects.

"It's been proven time and time again that corrupt countries, or dictatorships, can do very well economically," said Peter Westin, chief economist at Aton brokerage. "This country has been doing extremely well in the last couple of years. Corruption might have fallen, but it's still rampant."

The Fed economists' effort is only the latest in a long line of research on religion's effect on economics.

Max Weber, the founder of modern sociology, argued in "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" that Protestant countries tend to be wealthier than Catholic countries because Protestantism views the accumulation of personal wealth more favorably.

Karl Marx blasted religion as the "opium of the people" and said that faith perpetuates class divisions by keeping the working class pacified.

In the Soviet Union, Communist officials went to great lengths to eradicate religion, but failed to stamp it out entirely.

Earlier this spring, a report by University of Chicago Graduate School of Business professor Luigi Zengales looked at opinion studies worldwide, concluding: "Christian religions are more positively associated with attitudes that are conducive to economic growth, while Islam is negatively associated."

The authors from the Fed note that Adam Smith, the founder of modern free market economics, viewed religion as a moral enforcement mechanism that kept merchants honest.

The report computes incomes in 2001 dollars on a purchasing power parity basis, using figures from the United Nations Human Development Report for 2003. Opinions about hell were gathered from the 1990-1993 World Values Survey.