{"id":21,"date":"2014-01-26T18:27:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-26T17:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-the-most-corrupt.html"},"modified":"2014-11-11T21:05:59","modified_gmt":"2014-11-11T20:05:59","slug":"religious-countries-are-most-corrupt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html","title":{"rendered":"Religious countries are the most corrupt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Using standard assessments of national corruption, Hamid Yeganeh & Daniel Sauers of Winona State University, USA, have found that countries with the most religious people also have the highest levels of corruption.<\/p>\n

Now, in itself this is not a new observation (I pointed out as much back in 2008<\/a>), given that some of the most religious countries are also the most corrupt. But what is new is that the relationship holds even after controlling for the effects of socioeconomic development. And they showed that religious denomination doesn\u2019t matter \u2013 all religions are the same.<\/p>\n

Religion, of course, is supposed to promote good behaviour. So what gives? Well, the authors give several potential explanations.<\/p>\n

It might be that religion provides a solace to those on the receiving end. But they point out that religious societies are hierarchical, where the elites end up with a lot of power that goes unchallenged. That\u2019s linked to the tight alignment of religious organizations to political and governmental ones in less developed countries.<\/p>\n

It also might be the case that religion increases by discriminating between the faithful and unfaithful, thereby encouraging cronyism and nepotism. <\/p>\n

They conclude<\/p>\n

\u201cConsidering the variety of corruption measures, the reliability of data, and the large number of included countries, we have to conclude that religiosity not only does not
impede corruption but tends to promote it\u2026 Based on the above-mentioned arguments, we may conclude that while religiosity provides guidance on morality, some of its characteristics practically promote corrupt business behavior.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\"ResearchBlogging.org\"<\/a><\/span>
Hamid Yeganeh, & Daniel Sauers (2013). A Cross-National Investigation into the Effects of Religiosity on the Pervasiveness of Corruption Journal of East-West Business, 19<\/span> (3), 155-180 DOI: 10.1080\/10669868.2012.760027<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Creative<\/a><\/span> This article by Tom Rees<\/b> was first published on Epiphenom<\/a>. It is licensed under Creative Commons<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Using standard assessments of national corruption, Hamid Yeganeh & Daniel Sauers of Winona State University, USA, have found that countries with the most religious people also have the highest levels of corruption. Now, in itself this is not a new observation (I pointed out as much back in 2008), given that some of the most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2091,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nReligious countries are the most corrupt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Using standard assessments of national corruption, Hamid Yeganeh & Daniel Sauers of Winona State University, USA, have found that countries with the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Religious countries are the most corrupt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Using standard assessments of national corruption, Hamid Yeganeh & Daniel Sauers of Winona State University, USA, have found that countries with the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Epiphenom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-26T17:27:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-11-11T20:05:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.researchblogging.org\/public\/citation_icons\/rb2_large_gray.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Epiphenom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Epiphenom\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html\",\"name\":\"Religious countries are the most corrupt\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-26T17:27:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-11-11T20:05:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/98b4bf21daa886d9eb1d5f0e99643ad1\"},\"description\":\"Using standard assessments of national corruption, Hamid Yeganeh & Daniel Sauers of Winona State University, USA, have found that countries with the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Religious countries are the most corrupt\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/\",\"name\":\"Epiphenom\",\"description\":\"The science of religion and non-belief\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/98b4bf21daa886d9eb1d5f0e99643ad1\",\"name\":\"Epiphenom\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9abb71dca9f11ec59b77b1fffa487fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9abb71dca9f11ec59b77b1fffa487fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Epiphenom\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/author\/trees\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Religious countries are the most corrupt","description":"Using standard assessments of national corruption, Hamid Yeganeh & Daniel Sauers of Winona State University, USA, have found that countries with the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Religious countries are the most corrupt","og_description":"Using standard assessments of national corruption, Hamid Yeganeh & Daniel Sauers of Winona State University, USA, have found that countries with the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html","og_site_name":"Epiphenom","article_published_time":"2014-01-26T17:27:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-11-11T20:05:59+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.researchblogging.org\/public\/citation_icons\/rb2_large_gray.png"}],"author":"Epiphenom","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Epiphenom","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html","name":"Religious countries are the most corrupt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-01-26T17:27:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-11-11T20:05:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/98b4bf21daa886d9eb1d5f0e99643ad1"},"description":"Using standard assessments of national corruption, Hamid Yeganeh & Daniel Sauers of Winona State University, USA, have found that countries with the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2014\/01\/religious-countries-are-most-corrupt.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Religious countries are the most corrupt"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/","name":"Epiphenom","description":"The science of religion and non-belief","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/98b4bf21daa886d9eb1d5f0e99643ad1","name":"Epiphenom","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9abb71dca9f11ec59b77b1fffa487fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9abb71dca9f11ec59b77b1fffa487fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Epiphenom"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/author\/trees"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2091"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}