While the premise may be true, what in the world is the Federal Reserve engaged
in, with this kooky sort of report? This type of thing is all too reminiscent
of the typical evolution (fake science) press releases that we constantly see
being churned out.

Fear of hell

saves souls, and the economy, too

July 29, 2004
Economists in the United States have found that countries with a wide belief in
hell are less corrupt and more prosperous than those without.

According to a report into wealth by the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis,
religion proved to be just as reliable a marker as productivity and investment
levels. The report, entitled Fear of Hell Might Fire Up The Economy, studied
the economies of 35 countries, including the US, Ireland, Japan, India and
Turkey.
"In countries where large percentages of the population believe in hell, there
seems to be less corruption and a higher standard of living," it said in the
bank's quarterly review published this month.
For instance, 71 per cent of the US population believe in hell and the country
boasts the world's highest per capita income. Ireland, not far behind the US in
terms of income, likewise has a healthy fear of a netherworld with 53 per cent
of the population acknowledging hell's existence.

"I'm not surprised," said the Reverend Eileen Lindner, deputy general secretary
of the US National Council of Churches, when told of the results. "The
expectation that there is a cultural belief in hell or perpetual and eternal
punishment for wrongdoing will act as a disincentive to wrongdoing."
The bank's researchers took a two-step approach to linking religion and the
economy.
"A belief in hell tends to mean less corruption and less corruption tends to
mean a higher per capita income," they wrote.
They then looked at the relationship between corruption and per capita gross
domestic product and found "a strong tendency for countries with relatively low
levels of corruption to have relatively high levels of per capita GDP".
They said: "Combining these two stories ... suggests that, all else being
equal, the more religious a country, the less corruption it will have and the
higher its per capita income will be."
However, the president of American Atheists Inc, Ellen Johnson, called the
study the latest gimmick from the religious establishment to drum up support
for the Government.
"Religious people cannot rely on their theology to promote what they do so they
turn to other things," she said.
Reuters