Religion as a booster of economic growth
Opinion Piece by Abrar Salhoba, Staff Writer
November 11th, 2020
There is no doubting the role of religion in society, social arrangements, its influence on laws, culture, the way it sets the norm and its overall encompassing force in our lives. Although westernization and globalization have both played a role in downsizing the influence of religion in all aspects of life, religion has still been able to impact the economy by boosting its growth.
Religion increases productivity in the economy because it fosters the belief that all your hard work in this life will be rewarded in the afterlife. Religion acts as a motivator here by rewarding hard work via good deeds. The opportunity benefit of work to a religious individual increases since working is a direct correlation to the accumulation of good deeds. Another way that religion promotes economic activity is by way of valuing the attainment of knowledge and thus education. For example Judaism highly values education. Economist Evelyn Lehrer found that the mean years of schooling was highest within the Jewish community, at 16.9 males; 15.8 females. Jewish women are equally encouraged to pursue higher levels of education, this all translates to a more educated population, wherein parents invest in all their children’s education. Thus, the productivity of the state rises due to the direct relationship between increased education and increased economic participation. According to the World Values Survey, religious attendance in the United States is measured at 60 percent per month. USA is one of the most industrialized states with a highly developed economy, this goes to show that religious participation does not reduce economic activity, but encourages it. (McCleary,2008)
According to a 2014 study by researchers at Georgetown and Brigham Young university , it was concluded that religious freedom was one of the three key components in global economic growth. In which the economy of countries with no religious restrictions grew at twice the rate of those who had religious restrictions. In countries such as the United States of America, religion contributes to around 1.2 trillion of the country’s yearly to the economy,in goods and services. Where as in China, a country notably characterized by strict restrictions on religious freedom , it was observed that their economy in the past decade has experienced a slowdown. (Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, 2020)
As such, religious populations contribute to the boosting of economic activity , their ties to religion promotes them to give back to the community and seek its overall efficiency. Religion implores them to donate, educate themselves, work hard, avoid crime and harmful behavior, traits that indirectly form a stable foundation to support steady economic development. This is not to say that religion alone drives economic development but to emphasize that it influences that form of growth, as well as the people working in the economic sector of a state.
References
“Economic Growth Slowed by Decline in Religious Freedom.” RFBF, 2020. https://religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/economic-growth-slowed-by-decline-in-religious-freedom.
McCleary, Rachel M. “Religion and Economic Development.” Hoover Institution, March 28, 2008. https://www.hoover.org/research/religion-and-economic-development.