Do strong religious beliefs stifle innovation?
An article in today's Wall Street Journal presents new research which compares religious beliefs and belief in God with scientific innovation as measured by issuance of patents.
In the study, “Forbidden Fruits: The Political Economy of Science, Religion, and Growth,” authors Roland Bénabou, a Princeton University economist, and Davide Ticchi and Andrea Vindigni, both economists at Italy’s IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca, claim that “In both international and cross-state U.S. data, there is a significant and robust negative relationship between religiosity and patents per capita.”
To support this statement, the authors present a chart showing the "religiosity" of each country plotted against a population-controlled measure of patents filed by the country's residents:
For full disclosure, I should first say that I am an inventor, or the sole inventor, of four patents that I have filed while residing in the USA. I would also describe myself as a believer in and follower of Jesus Christ. Does that make me "religious"? Probably in the eyes of the authors of this study, yes - although it is often said that Christianity is a relationship (with Jesus), not a religion (system of rules).
With that said, my main take-away from this chart is somewhat different from the authors'. I notice first of all that the USA is an outlier - high both on the scale of "religiosity" but also on the scale of innovation.
I also notice a much higher correlation between the countries' region and their level of innovation. It is striking to me that Asian and African countries rank low for innovation, regardless of "religiosity", while countries in Europe and the Americas generally rank higher.
To me, this begs the question - perhaps "religiosity" means different things to different people? Well, in very general terms, of course it does. Europe and the Americas are historically part of Christendom, while most of the countries that rank lowest for innovation (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Algeria, the Philippines, India, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Morocco, Iran, Egypt) are Muslim-majority countries.
So to me the correlation that really needs to be explained is the correlation between Muslim religiosity and lack of innovation, one which has been documented elsewhere. Is it because innovation and science, like Christianity, are based on truth, and so are mutually reinforcing, while Islam, which is based on a lie, tends to run counter to scientific progress?
In the study, “Forbidden Fruits: The Political Economy of Science, Religion, and Growth,” authors Roland Bénabou, a Princeton University economist, and Davide Ticchi and Andrea Vindigni, both economists at Italy’s IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca, claim that “In both international and cross-state U.S. data, there is a significant and robust negative relationship between religiosity and patents per capita.”
To support this statement, the authors present a chart showing the "religiosity" of each country plotted against a population-controlled measure of patents filed by the country's residents:
For full disclosure, I should first say that I am an inventor, or the sole inventor, of four patents that I have filed while residing in the USA. I would also describe myself as a believer in and follower of Jesus Christ. Does that make me "religious"? Probably in the eyes of the authors of this study, yes - although it is often said that Christianity is a relationship (with Jesus), not a religion (system of rules).
With that said, my main take-away from this chart is somewhat different from the authors'. I notice first of all that the USA is an outlier - high both on the scale of "religiosity" but also on the scale of innovation.
I also notice a much higher correlation between the countries' region and their level of innovation. It is striking to me that Asian and African countries rank low for innovation, regardless of "religiosity", while countries in Europe and the Americas generally rank higher.
To me, this begs the question - perhaps "religiosity" means different things to different people? Well, in very general terms, of course it does. Europe and the Americas are historically part of Christendom, while most of the countries that rank lowest for innovation (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Algeria, the Philippines, India, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Morocco, Iran, Egypt) are Muslim-majority countries.
So to me the correlation that really needs to be explained is the correlation between Muslim religiosity and lack of innovation, one which has been documented elsewhere. Is it because innovation and science, like Christianity, are based on truth, and so are mutually reinforcing, while Islam, which is based on a lie, tends to run counter to scientific progress?