Are Christian Nations Economically Free? Abstract

The events of September eleventh reminded us that all religions are not alike. This paper empirically examines whether religions make a difference to a nation’s economic freedom. The study uses the Index of Economic Freedom and data on the distribution of various religions found in the World Christian Encyclopedia. Simple regressions indicate that nations with higher percentages of Christians have significantly greater freedom. When Christians are subdivided, nations with higher percentages of Roman Catholics, Protestants, Anglicans, Evangelicals, Pentecostals/Charismatics, and Great Commission Christians have greater freedom. The percentages of Independent and Orthodox Christians are unrelated to freedom. Only two non-Christian religions make a difference individually. Nations with higher percentages of Jews have more freedom and those with higher percentages of Muslims have lower freedom. When religions are examined individually, only ethical monotheists (people of the book) matter. Baha’is, Buddhists, Hindus, Ethnoreligionists, the nonreligious and atheists have no effect. Stepwise regression results indicate that Christians with denominational subsets of Protestants and Orthodox Christians explain 19.3 % of economic freedom. Christians and the subtype of Great Commission Christians explain 22.9%. The greatest explanation of freedom is found from the percentages of Great Commission Christians, Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Buddhists. Together, these explain over twenty-eight percent of the variability in economic freedom across nations. Although causality is not claimed, most of these world religions have existed for centuries or millennia and economic freedom is a relatively new concept, so it is logical to conclude that religion impacts freedom and not the other way around. The question “Are Christian Nations Economically Free? ” can be answered in the affirmative