One of the most contested notions of famed German sociologist Max Weber is his theory of the ‘Protestant work ethic’. In essence, his theory says that Protestants, as opposed to Catholics and adherents of other religions, are more productive because their religious beliefs focus on the deeds done in life and consider prosperity in business a sign of being favoured by God (I am oversimplifying, but you get the idea). While sociologists have defended the theory over the last hundred years, economists have generally derided it as not based on data. However, one thing economists do not dispute is that religious beliefs influence financial decisions.
I get why economists have issues with culture-as-an-explanation since it's hard to model or to handle as an item in an equation. But obviously culture matters, especially if you add Braudel's Longue durée (many political, economic, agricultural, societal etc pecularities are expressions of centuries-old cultural traits, and they have hardly changed).
Typically, in the Netehrlands, we describe 'our' Catholics as having a significant Protestant attitude towards life. 'they're more similar to northern Protestants than to southern European Catholics'.
Also focusing on security, predictability and related preferences, and with moderate levels of showing off one's (material) success (just compare English tayloring to Italian sartorial traditions - unfortunately it's impossible here to say anything about Dutch sartorial traditions, since they are non existent. Although we never fell for the American baggy suit).
There are similarities though, but it seems that at least some of those are a consequence of having less trust in others (high trust vs low trust nations):
Northerners prepare for the (unknown) future through solid pension schemes, southerners through high(er) homeownership AND by avoiding sharing the fruits of one's labour with the gov. Which is deemed unreliable:
93% of Italians don’t trust their parliament—and they are right
I think you're dead on. We Western peoples are going through a shock transition from 'We are the State' to 'Me vs the State'. The COVID era, and governmental actions during, created a massive dislocation in peoples innate trust that 'they're on our side'. Now we're like the rest of the world.
Covid indeed showed us a certain government (and a broader elite) enthusiasm for censorship. Hiding from the public the opinions of what turned out to be perfectly legit scholars with impressive resumes. They just didn't align with what can only be called Official Opinion.
And now we see that those same think tanks effortlessly have found a new raison d'etre in 'combating' other wrong think (or perhaps they're just hanging on to their jobs. Bureaucracies never terminate themselves...).
It seems that especially the brains of what we in the NL now call 'the practically educated' need to be washed, pardon, guided in the right direction (that would be away from political parties that serve THEIR interests and towards parties that represent what i call the neat left (academic progressives), centrist liberals and greens (secular post-secular planet-saving zealots).
I.e. 'diversity is good only as long as you're in our camp...
As for trust, i was specifically talking about expressions of old cultural traits. But indeed in northern countries trust was and is falling as there is something else going on, and it's also tied to a neat left/centrist/green mantra:
City journal, 2007:
'Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, is very nervous about releasing his new research, and understandably so. His five-year study shows that immigration and ethnic diversity have a devastating short- and medium-term influence on the social capital, fabric of associations, trust, and neighborliness that create and sustain communities.
He fears that his work on the surprisingly negative effects of diversity will become part of the immigration debate, even though he finds that in the long run, people do forge new communities and new ties.'
His intention was to simply find proof for the mantra that immigration is good, regardless...(these days even Dutch immigrants and their descendants vote for parties who want to vet immigrants, limit numbers etc.
Generally western elites describe immigration in terms of morality, right vs wrong. Unless high skilled immigration is concerned. First of all its highly regulated compared to low skilled immigration and the morality component is typically left out. This kind of immigration is almost solely discussed in terms of 'it's good for us / the economy'. Low skilled immigration is discussed in terms of 'those in opposition of it are racists. Period'
It's the working classes, pardon, the practically schooled, that'll have to suck up wage competion while academics carefully guard their and their offspring's economic interests.
As for culture and economic outcomes (and the longue durée):
'Sociologists and anthropologists (like Richerson and Boyd, 2005) have accumulated a wealth of field evidence on the impact of culture on economic behavior.
As one of many examples, Salamon (1992) documents that in southern Illinois, in
spite of the similarity of environmental conditions, towns inhabited by descendents
of German-Catholics who settled in the 1840s and towns inhabited by descendents
of Yankee settlers from other parts of the United States (mainly Kentucky, Ohio
and Indiana) showed substantial differences in the structure of land ownership,
farming practices, choice of crops and female fertility.
German-Catholics almost never sold their land and had on average more children, and thus tend to grow crops that are more labor-intensive to employ their children.
Yankees saw farming as a business, bought and sold land more often, grew less labor-intensive crops such as corn, and had fewer children. Interestingly, while Yankees were generally more
profitable, the German-Catholic model did not become less prevalent after more than a century, because of the higher fertility of German Catholics.
Not only did culture have an effect, but this effect persisted over time in spite of its lower profitability.'
When you have large cultures/people groups who have studied and meditated on biblical verses such as Colossians 3:23-24 below, and have taken such verses to heart as if they actually, truly came from their Lord, and not just a book of good ideas, you may begin to understand how this difficult to quantify truth is so.
Colossians 3:23-24:
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
I get why economists have issues with culture-as-an-explanation since it's hard to model or to handle as an item in an equation. But obviously culture matters, especially if you add Braudel's Longue durée (many political, economic, agricultural, societal etc pecularities are expressions of centuries-old cultural traits, and they have hardly changed).
Typically, in the Netehrlands, we describe 'our' Catholics as having a significant Protestant attitude towards life. 'they're more similar to northern Protestants than to southern European Catholics'.
Also focusing on security, predictability and related preferences, and with moderate levels of showing off one's (material) success (just compare English tayloring to Italian sartorial traditions - unfortunately it's impossible here to say anything about Dutch sartorial traditions, since they are non existent. Although we never fell for the American baggy suit).
There are similarities though, but it seems that at least some of those are a consequence of having less trust in others (high trust vs low trust nations):
Northerners prepare for the (unknown) future through solid pension schemes, southerners through high(er) homeownership AND by avoiding sharing the fruits of one's labour with the gov. Which is deemed unreliable:
93% of Italians don’t trust their parliament—and they are right
https://qz.com/328300/93-of-italians-dont-trust-their-parliament-and-they-are-right
I.e: We are the state / Me vs the state.
I think you're dead on. We Western peoples are going through a shock transition from 'We are the State' to 'Me vs the State'. The COVID era, and governmental actions during, created a massive dislocation in peoples innate trust that 'they're on our side'. Now we're like the rest of the world.
Covid indeed showed us a certain government (and a broader elite) enthusiasm for censorship. Hiding from the public the opinions of what turned out to be perfectly legit scholars with impressive resumes. They just didn't align with what can only be called Official Opinion.
And now we see that those same think tanks effortlessly have found a new raison d'etre in 'combating' other wrong think (or perhaps they're just hanging on to their jobs. Bureaucracies never terminate themselves...).
It seems that especially the brains of what we in the NL now call 'the practically educated' need to be washed, pardon, guided in the right direction (that would be away from political parties that serve THEIR interests and towards parties that represent what i call the neat left (academic progressives), centrist liberals and greens (secular post-secular planet-saving zealots).
I.e. 'diversity is good only as long as you're in our camp...
As for trust, i was specifically talking about expressions of old cultural traits. But indeed in northern countries trust was and is falling as there is something else going on, and it's also tied to a neat left/centrist/green mantra:
City journal, 2007:
'Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, is very nervous about releasing his new research, and understandably so. His five-year study shows that immigration and ethnic diversity have a devastating short- and medium-term influence on the social capital, fabric of associations, trust, and neighborliness that create and sustain communities.
He fears that his work on the surprisingly negative effects of diversity will become part of the immigration debate, even though he finds that in the long run, people do forge new communities and new ties.'
https://www.city-journal.org/article/bowling-with-our-own#:~:text=/%20Share-,Harvard%20political,-scientist%20Robert%20Putnam
His intention was to simply find proof for the mantra that immigration is good, regardless...(these days even Dutch immigrants and their descendants vote for parties who want to vet immigrants, limit numbers etc.
Generally western elites describe immigration in terms of morality, right vs wrong. Unless high skilled immigration is concerned. First of all its highly regulated compared to low skilled immigration and the morality component is typically left out. This kind of immigration is almost solely discussed in terms of 'it's good for us / the economy'. Low skilled immigration is discussed in terms of 'those in opposition of it are racists. Period'
It's the working classes, pardon, the practically schooled, that'll have to suck up wage competion while academics carefully guard their and their offspring's economic interests.
As for culture and economic outcomes (and the longue durée):
Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?
https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.20.2.23
Conclusion
'Sociologists and anthropologists (like Richerson and Boyd, 2005) have accumulated a wealth of field evidence on the impact of culture on economic behavior.
As one of many examples, Salamon (1992) documents that in southern Illinois, in
spite of the similarity of environmental conditions, towns inhabited by descendents
of German-Catholics who settled in the 1840s and towns inhabited by descendents
of Yankee settlers from other parts of the United States (mainly Kentucky, Ohio
and Indiana) showed substantial differences in the structure of land ownership,
farming practices, choice of crops and female fertility.
German-Catholics almost never sold their land and had on average more children, and thus tend to grow crops that are more labor-intensive to employ their children.
Yankees saw farming as a business, bought and sold land more often, grew less labor-intensive crops such as corn, and had fewer children. Interestingly, while Yankees were generally more
profitable, the German-Catholic model did not become less prevalent after more than a century, because of the higher fertility of German Catholics.
Not only did culture have an effect, but this effect persisted over time in spite of its lower profitability.'
When you have large cultures/people groups who have studied and meditated on biblical verses such as Colossians 3:23-24 below, and have taken such verses to heart as if they actually, truly came from their Lord, and not just a book of good ideas, you may begin to understand how this difficult to quantify truth is so.
Colossians 3:23-24:
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.