The Protestant work ethic myth doesn't hold up against the data
Catholic Bavaria, Austria or Flanders are richer than many Protestant regions. Does Weber's thesis fail? Here's what the data shows.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Bavaria: Catholic and richer than Protestant Germany
Why are some Protestant countries richer than Catholic ones? That question assumes a link that history disproves. Bavaria, Germany's wealthiest region, is Catholic. Austria, staunchly Catholic, has one of the highest per capita incomes in Europe. Flanders, northern Italy or half of Switzerland also carry crosses on their coats of arms and are doing just fine. In short, the myth of the Protestant ethic, popularized by Max Weber, needs a lot of nuance.
The nuance comes from history itself. The rise of capitalism owes nothing to Nordic Lutheranism and everything to Calvinism: Holland and the Anglo-Saxon world legitimized interest and saw economic success as a sign of divine election. But even there there's a catch. England, for example, had Protestantism its own way, with the king as head of the Church: something very much like caesaropapism. And it still accumulated capital.
Geography did the rest. The Atlantic trade axis displaced the Mediterranean, and with it the money that had enriched Genoa or Venice. The North had coal in abundance; the South sold wine and oil. And in Protestant countries the crown expropriated the clergy, keeping the wealth at home; in Spain and Italy money flowed out to Rome. Faith was never the factor. It was the ports, the mines and the expropriations.
Why are some Protestant countries richer than Catholic ones? That question assumes a link that history disproves. Bavaria, Germany's wealthiest region, is Catholic. Austria, staunchly Catholic, has one of the highest per capita incomes in Europe. Flanders, northern Italy or half of Switzerland also carry crosses on their coats of arms and are doing just fine. In short, the myth of the Protestant ethic, popularized by Max Weber, needs a lot of nuance.
The nuance comes from history itself. The rise of capitalism owes nothing to Nordic Lutheranism and everything to Calvinism: Holland and the Anglo-Saxon world legitimized interest and saw economic success as a sign of divine election. But even there there's a catch. England, for example, had Protestantism its own way, with the king as head of the Church: something very much like caesaropapism. And it still accumulated capital.
Geography did the rest. The Atlantic trade axis displaced the Mediterranean, and with it the money that had enriched Genoa or Venice. The North had coal in abundance; the South sold wine and oil. And in Protestant countries the crown expropriated the clergy, keeping the wealth at home; in Spain and Italy money flowed out to Rome. Faith was never the factor. It was the ports, the mines and the expropriations.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (33 replies).
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