CULTURE AND RELIGION

Comparative Study of Culture and Religion in Economic Development

Comparative Study of Culture and Religion in Economic Development

Introduction

Economic development is often related with the happiness from the material things like possession of certain amount of wealth, houses, cars, bank balances and the like. However, the question lies that what is the quantum of money and wealth that a person should possess to quality for the word happiness. Happiness has no yardstick for the all the people and all the time. For someone's happiness may mean in other person's misery. Many people in the pursuit of the self-reported happiness go completely ignoring the importance of the non-material possession that has more importance in their lives, such as family, friends, and other close relationships. Several studies show that close relationships plays central role in the human life than any material possession. This implies that money cannot buy happiness. Income though appears to have necessary role, may impact the person well-being and development in short term but does not prove consistent in the long run. Also the findings show that with the rise of income level, the suicide rate is also rising. Further, every 1 of 4 people in U.K. are found to deal with several medical issues such as depression. Fortunately, the role of culture and religion in economic development of the people has put lots of equilibrium in the society. They can reduce the anxiety and depression to the large extent by providing the sense of meaning and purpose in the life (Blum, Ulrich & Leonard D, 2001, pp. 208).

Since 1990s, more and more countries from the entire world are increasingly realizing the importance of culture and religion in enhancing the economic development. Economists and scholars have conducted many researches to identify the casual relationship between the culture and religion on economic development (Blum, Ulrich & Leonard D, 2001, pp. 228)Also the common awareness reports from the World Bank and World Faiths Development Dialogue shows that culture and religion has common influence on the people. The causality of religion and culture and economic development has also been discussed in various social sciences and different economic literatures, like evolutionary economics, new institutional economics, behavioral economics and psycho-economics.

Discussion

Culture

Many scholars have argued that nation's culture is one of the important determinants of economic in any country (Huntington, 1996; Landes, 1999; Inglehar & Baker, 2000, pp.25). Culture can affect the economic outcomes by affecting personal traits such as honesty, productivity, motivation, willingness to work and trust. Culture is often defined as the shared values, norms and traditions in the country or part of the country. Here it is defined in terms of the economic system followed by the country and general practices with the wealth distribution and class conflicts.

It is generally believed that main reason behind the market failure is selfishness or lack of consideration of the organization towards others such as a firm that pollutes the environment on expense of the other persons' health. In discussing the importance of culture in the ...