Hell and Profit

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 12:19 pm

Believing in Hell Has Its Benefits

Wed Jul 28, 8:45 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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 (news - web sites) Bank of St. Louis.

Researchers at the regional Federal Reserve bank acknowledged the importance of productivity and investment in the economic process but looked at some recent unconventional efforts to explain differences in national prosperity.

The St Louis Fed drew on work by outside economists who studied 35 countries, including the United States, European nations, Japan, India and Turkey and found that religion shed some useful light.

"In countries where large percentages of the population believe in hell, there seems to be less corruption and a higher standard of living," the St. Louis Fed said in its July quarterly review.

For instance, 71 percent of the U.S. population believe in hell and the country boasts the world's highest per capita income, according to the 2003 United Nations (news - web sites) Human Development Report and 1990-1993 World Values Survey.

Ireland, not far behind the United States in terms of income, likewise has a healthy fear of a nether world with 53 percent of the population acknowledging hell's existence.

Jeff Guevin · Post by **Jeff Guevin** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 12:20 pm

I wonder what proportion of the richest Americans believe in hell?

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 12:21 pm

I wonder what proportion are going there?
Tony

vomitbunny · Post by **vomitbunny** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 12:38 pm

Maybe being rich tends to make people believe in hell.

Jeff Guevin · Post by **Jeff Guevin** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 12:54 pm

vomitbunny wrote:Maybe being rich tends to make people believe in hell.

Some rich people make me want to believe in it. I'm just glad the Catholic church stopped handing out those plenary-indulgences-for-cash.

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 12:56 pm

TonyHiggins wrote:I wonder what proportion are going there?
Tony

Well, you know the saying Tony: "Easier for a Camel to pass through the fipple of a Soprano F whistle........"

Loren

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 1:04 pm

I acknowledge the existence of hell. I don't believe that the fear of hell is ultimately what sways one to right or wrong living. Isn't there a high percentage in Saudi Arabia who believe in the abode of the damned, as well?

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 2:27 pm

Loren wrote:
Well, you know the saying Tony: "Easier for a Camel to pass through the fipple of a Soprano F whistle........"

Loren

What has cigarettes got to do with it?

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 3:01 pm

Walden wrote:I acknowledge the existence of hell. I don't believe that the fear of hell is ultimately what sways one to right or wrong living. Isn't there a high percentage in Saudi Arabia who believe in the abode of the damned, as well?

And there are quite a few rich ones over there--and probably quite a few "moral" ones, as well. Whether they're the same ones or not is another question.

(If I recall correctly, lending money for interest is forbidden somewhere along the way in Islam. In theory, this should mean that there couldn't be any Muslim bankers--or at least that they wouldn't be considered moral.)

I didn't really have anything useful to say on this topic, but I just needed a place to tell Walden that his avatars are getting cooler and cooler.

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 3:27 pm

TonyHiggins wrote:
Loren wrote:
Well, you know the saying Tony: "Easier for a Camel to pass through the fipple of a Soprano F whistle........"

Loren
What has cigarettes got to do with it?

Belive me Tony, if you'd cleaned the blocks and windways of as many fippled instruments as I have, you'd understand.......Frickin' europeans smoke like you wouldn't believe, gross.

Loren

E = Fb · Post by **E = Fb** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 4:36 pm

Anyone whose name was not written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. So always remember to keep your receipt.