From The Economist via Edge of England's Sword:
...But if you look at Europe as a whole, the small movement back towards old-fashioned virtues in big Catholic countries is far outweighed by the stride the other way in post-Protestant countries such as Germany and Sweden. On average, then, the values gap between America and European countries seems to be widening.
"small movement back towards old-fashioned virtues in big Catholic countries is far outweighed..."
Including Italy, with its negative birthrate? Isn't this a case of looking at what people do rather than listening to what they say?
Posted by: Diana at January 5, 2003 07:46 AMAs a person who studies genealogy, I have developed this intuitive theory that the US ranks as it does because of selection bias. Briefly, the people who emigrated to the US were the ones who more self-reliant and self-motivated. They were risk takers for sure. They relied on "tradition" to carry themselves through difficult times, but they were innovative enough to recognize that going with what worked was preferable to sticking with tradition.
Posted by: The Old Guy at January 5, 2003 10:08 AM