What’s in it for me? Understand what makes the world’s greatest economies tick

Economy doesn’t care about religion.
How big a role does religion play in determining a nation’s economic success? It’s a question that has been written about since 1905, when German sociologist Max Weber suggested that Protestants were more successful in business than Catholics.
But history has gone on to prove Weber wrong.
Weber’s theories were based on the 19^th-century successes of predominantly Protestant countries like England and the Netherlands. But, since then, the advancements of predominantly Catholic nations such as Italy, Spain and Ireland have shown these ideas to be flimsy.
Similar theories about the economic effect of religion on Asian and Middle Eastern countries have also been disproven.
In the 1980s, it was fashionable to look at the cultural traditions of Hong Kong and Taiwan as having an influence on their economic boom at the time. It was thought that their values, which emphasized social solidarity over individualism, were better suited to capitalism. Yet, the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s proved that these countries were just as vulnerable to collapse as any other.
There have also been theories suggesting that Islamic countries like Afghanistan struggle with economic success more than others.
While it is possible that some Islamic societies are resistant to change and reform, the poor choices that these governments make are largely unrelated to religion. For example, the governments of largely Islamic countries like Malaysia and Indonesia made markedly wise economic decisions.
It is too simplistic to look at religion as being the deciding factor in a country’s economic success or misfortune. Ultimately, it comes down to the important choices that government leaders make.


Even under corrupt leadership, policy choices are what lead to a successful economy.
Political corruption can’t benefit an economy, can it? Well, just because a nation’s leader is honest, it doesn’t mean he’ll make the right choices that will lead to a prosperous economy.
Take Indonesia, which thrived under a corrupt president, and Tanzania, which crumbled under an honest one.
In 1968, Indonesia had a fractured government and a struggling economy. That year, President Suharto seized control in a terrifying takeover, killing thousands who opposed him while rebuilding the government with his own appointed personnel.
But, as brutal as he was, his conservative political policies proved to be economically wise. He opened up the Indonesia’s borders to international trading and shipping, attracted foreign investment, reduced poverty and quickly balanced the budget of the country.
As for Tanzania, from 1964 to 1985, the nation’s president was Julius Nyerere: a former teacher who was honest and quite unlike many other corrupt African rulers.
Unfortunately, his poor decisions as president led to economic stagnation. Nyerere tried to create a self-sustaining Tanzania and built policies that closed the country off to trade and investors.
He also socialized the nation’s farmers which resulted in widespread extortion and bribery over the distribution of goods and services. This resulted in a nationwide disaster and Nyerere was eventually forced to give up on his ideas of collectivization.
This shows that even political corruption doesn’t automatically determine a nation’s economic prosperity. It comes down to the choices and policies the governments make.