Do Strong Religious Beliefs Stifle Innovation?

[Warren Stupidity]

Countries that are intensely religious are typically less innovative than those that aren’t, according to a new paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The study, titled “Forbidden Fruits: The Political Economy of Science, Religion, and Growth,” compares religious beliefs and belief in God with scientific innovation as measured by issuance of patents.
“In both international and cross-state U.S. data, there is a significant and robust negative relationship between religiosity and patents per capita,” according to authors Roland Bénabou, a Princeton University economist, and Davide Ticchi and Andrea Vindigni, both economists at Italy’s IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-REB-32055

[okasha]

1. Only 3000 patents out of 1.5 million are commercially viable.

Of those 3000, only two products are ever launched.

Among products launched, only 1 in 5000 is commercially successful.

Rrrrright. Those damn Methodists are going to shoot down your brilliant musical can opener/toaster/doggie hairbrush inwention.

[link:http://inventionstatistics.com

[pinto]

2. Patents. That's an interesting yardstick to apply to the premise.

To the authors' credit they are careful to temper the broad assumption -

“We’re not making strong claims as to what is causing what,” he said. “The pattern is there and people can offer their own explanation to the pattern.”

Messrs. Bénabou, Ticchi and Vindigni are careful to note that their paper isn’t insisting that religion impedes economic growth or economic growth impedes religion.