The Economics Book

138

PROTESTANTISM

HAS MADE US

RICH

RELIGION AND THE ECONOMY

T

he German sociologist Max

Weber was interested in

the contrasting levels of

economic success in various

countries during the 16th to 19th

centuries. In The Protestant Ethic

and the Spirit of Capitalism, he

argued that northern Europe and

the US had fared better than the

Catholic societies of South America

and the Mediterranean because of

Protestant beliefs in predestination,

vocation, and the work ethic.

For Catholics divine reckoning

is a future event: one must live a

decent life and perform good deeds

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Society and the economy

KEY THINKER

Max Weber (1864 –1920)

BEFORE

1517 Martin Luther publishes

The Ninety-Five Theses,

starting the religious conflict

that leads to the Reformation.

1688 The Glorious Revolution

ends any chance of Catholicism

returning to Britain and paves

the way for the world’s first

Industrial Revolution.

AFTER

1993 Swedish social scientist

Kurt Samuelsson argues that

Puritan leaders did not truly

endorse capitalistic behavior.

2009 Harvard economist

Davide Cantoni publishes

The Case of Protestantism

in 16th Century Germany, in

which he claims to find “no

effects of Protestantism on

economic growth.”

Calvinist Protestantism

claimed only the elect are

predestined for salvation.

The Reformation

made northern Europe

Protestant.

Protestants work harder,

believing it demonstrates

personal salvation.

Hard work and

frugality are outward

manifestations

of the elect.

Protestantism has

made us rich.

They refuse luxuries

and reinvest their profits

into further business...

... growing the economy

and the wealth

of the nation.