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Actually your response is absurd, most economic historians recognize the different attitudes towards wealth creation between Catholicism & Protestantism.
I disagree, when you look closer there are so many exceptions that there is no rule left.
Anyway, one should not confuse things. While northern countries are doing better economically, I am not so sure that is a good thing. It might seem like it at first glance because almost the whole world seems lost in that odd monopoly game we have turned our lives into. But there are things beyond money...
is france northern or southern
is germany northern or southern
is the alps in northern or southern europe
I think the Alps are the divide between southern and northern Europe (whereby central and northern are often considered the same, here in Portugal all Germans are considered northern Europeans). Basically the line goes along the Germanic-Latin divide.
France and Switzerland are in the transition zone.
I think the Alps are the divide between southern and northern Europe (whereby central and northern are often considered the same, here in Portugal all Germans are considered northern Europeans). Basically the line goes along the Germanic-Latin divide.
France and Switzerland are in the transition zone.
is france northern or southern
is germany northern or southern
is the alps in northern or southern europe
The Alps is a divider between north and south, right?
I think most international agencies place France and Germany in the Western Europe category to be exact.
Germany is definitely not southern Europe. From the last names to the beer to the music to the language they are definitely more in line with their northern European neighbors.
France is kind of iffy. Most of France's people live north of Switzerland, so geographically perhaps they have a claim to being in northern Europe. I have never been to France so I can't say for sure if they are more similar to their southern neighbors or their northern neighbors.
I disagree, when you look closer there are so many exceptions that there is no rule left.
Anyway, one should not confuse things. While northern countries are doing better economically, I am not so sure that is a good thing. It might seem like it at first glance because almost the whole world seems lost in that odd monopoly game we have turned our lives into. But there are things beyond money...
Well there are never any firm rules but they don't call it Protestant work ethic for nothing. Full disclosure, I'm Catholic.
Your theory may also explain why very solidly catholic countries such as Poland or Ireland, neither of which were in southern Europe, remained largely agrarian.
It makes sense to me since word is with Ireland being much richer in the last 30 years or so; the Catholic Church has lost a LOT of power.
Here's a peek at a backward town in southern Italy:
The Moral Basis of a Backward Society is a book by Edward C. Banfield, a political scientist who visited Montegrano , Italy (Montegrano is the fictitious name used by Banfield to protect the original town of Chiaromonte, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata) in 1955. He observed a self interested, family centric society which sacrificed the public good for the sake of nepotism and the immediate family. Banfield as an American was witnessing what was to become infamous as the "mafia" or families (in Sicily and other parts of Southern Italy) that cared only for its own "members" at the expense of their fellow citizens. Banfield postulated that the backwardness of such a society could be explained ‘largely but not entirely’ by ‘the inability of the villagers to act together for their common good or, indeed, for any end transcending the immediate, material interest of the nuclear family’.
Banfield concluded that Montegrano's plight was rooted in the distrust, envy and suspicion displayed by its inhabitants' relations with each other. Fellow citizens would refuse to help one another, except where one's own personal material gain was at stake. Many attempted to hinder their neighbors from attaining success, believing that others' good fortune would inevitably harm their own interests. Montegrano's citizens viewed their village life as little more than a battleground. Consequently, there prevailed social isolation and poverty—and an inability to work together to solve common social problems, or even to pool common resources and talents to build infrastructure or common economic concerns.
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