The Economist - USA (2019-11-23)

TheEconomistNovember 23rd 2019 81

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0 510

Nodata

Nodata

-2

-1

0

1

2

0246810

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Moretrustingofstrangers,

individualisticandindependent

Moreconformist,obedient

andloyaltogroup

↓

Western/Catholic Eastern/Orthodox Negligiblechurchinfluence*

Individualistic-impersonal

psychologyscale

Centuriesofchurchinfluence,500-1500AD,takinginsubsequentmigrations

United

States

Chad

Egypt

Japan

India

China

Indonesia

Saudi

Arabia

Greece

Albania

Russia

Italy

Britain France

Sweden

Finland

Israel

Spain

Denmark

Switzerland

SouthAfrica

Turkey

Paraguay

Bolivia

Mexico

Argentina

Brazil

Canada

Germany

NewZealand

Australia

South

Korea

Therelationshipisweakerfor

theEasternOrthodoxchurch,

whichwasmoretolerantof

marriagebetweenrelatives

Source:“TheChurch,intensivekinshipandpsychologicalvariation”,by

JonathanSchulzandJosephHeinrichetal.,Science, November 2019

*0-30years

TimeunderChristianityintheMiddleAgesv socialattitudes

Byprimarychurchexposure

CenturiesofChristianinfluence,500-1500AD

Takinginsubsequentpopulationmigrations

Kinshipintensityindex,includingcousinmarriage,

extendedfamiliescohabiting,polygamy,marryingwithin

thecommunity

PopulationsoriginatinginareasthatspentlongerundermedievalCatholicismaremoretrustingandlessconformist

W

hy somecountries are rich and oth-

ers are poor is an enduring debate in

economics. Natural resources and friendly

climates help only a bit. In contrast, robust

political institutions and a steady rule of

law seem essential. But why did these pre-

cursors evolve in just a few dozen states?

One oft-cited theory, advanced by Rob-

ert Putnam of Harvard University, is that

the crucial ingredient is “social capital”, the

affinity people feel for members of their

society whom they do not know. Proxies for

this sentiment, such as blood-donation

rates or propensity to return a stranger’s

lost wallet, closely track gdpper person.

Social capital can take centuries to

amass. Mr Putnam has shown that parts of

Italy that were ruled by a feudal monarchy

around 1300adhave low levels of social

trust and are relatively poor today. In con-

trast, the Italian regions that formed city-

states in that era, where citizens banded to-

gether for commerce and self-defence, are

now unusually rich and well-run.

A recent study by Jonathan Schulz, Jo-

seph Henrich and two other scholars pro-

poses an explanation that delves even fur-

ther back in time. They focus on family

structure. Until recent human history, peo-

ple lived in small groups and often married

relatives. These habits reinforced family

ties, but made people wary of outsiders.

In Europe this started to change around

500 ad, when the Catholic church began

banning polygamy and marriages between

cousins, or between widows or widowers

and their dead spouses’ siblings. These

edicts forced unmarried men to venture

out and meet women from different social

groups. The paper says that this reduced

Christians’ “conformity and in-group loy-

alty”, and made them trust strangers more.

By expanding the community beyond

clans, it helped create the broad solidarity

on which development may depend.

To show that Christian dogma caused

this shift, the authors match historical data

on the spread of religion with modern indi-

cators. In places where Catholicism was

generally the leading religion from 500-

1500 ad, people score highly on measures

of independence, impartiality and trust—

such as agreeing to testify against a friend

whose reckless driving killed a pedestrian.

The same pattern occurs in countries set-

tled mostly by Christian migrants, such as

America. In contrast, social trust is lower

and marriage between cousins is relatively

common in areas whose populations do

not descend from medieval Catholics.

This effect distinguishes Catholicism

from other strands of medieval Christian-

ity. Years spent before 1500adunder East-

ern Orthodoxy, which the authors say did

less to police marriage within families, was

a weaker predictor of “pro-social” survey

responses than exposure to Catholicism

was. Moreover, the trend holds up both be-

tween and within countries. Among Italian

regions, those with high social capital (as

measured by data like using cheques over

cash) were influenced by Catholicism for

longer than those lacking it were.

The study’s subject limits the strength

of its findings. Barring an experiment to as-

sign religions to countries at random and

monitor them for 1,500 years, no one can

prove whether incest bans built social trust

or merely coincided with it. Nonetheless,

the paper bolsters the case for studying an-

cient history to understand the present. 7

Medieval Catholicism nudged Europe

towards democracy and development

God and Mammon

Graphic detailCulture and development