
The influence or not of religious belief on the zeal for work has long been the subject of discussions that have not been slow to become so here in Albania these 35 years after the fall of communism and the establishment of democracy with a market economy as a mode of economic action.
You hear and read a wide variety of opinions that try to explain why many people, regions, and countries have greater economic development than others, and from time to time, people's religious beliefs are mentioned as the reason for economic progress or backwardness.
The famous German sociologist Max Weber explained that it is no coincidence that there is a strong connection between religious affiliation and entrepreneurial capital in the economy.
He explained this connection at length in his book "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" (1905), which has been translated into Albanian for years.
According to him, Protestantism is more business-friendly than capitalism because its religious teaching fosters the development of modern capitalism.
Protestantism encourages workers to be hardworking, diligent, and thrifty. They see success in their profession as an expression of their divine calling.
The capitalist entrepreneur reinvests his profits to maximize profit by asserting himself in the competition, and likewise the Protestant believer works to prove himself in professional life whether or not he is chosen by God.
During the crisis of 2008-2009, many economists turned to this thesis of the influence of religion on the crisis-free progress of some countries in Europe, such as those in Central and Northern Europe where the Protestant religion prevails, and the pronounced economic crisis in those countries in Eastern and Southern Europe where the Orthodox and Catholic Christian religions prevail.
This Weber thesis has been taken up and re-taken by many researchers who emphasize mainly the cultural influence on the economic development of countries.
One of them, Horst Feldmann, an economist at the British University of Bath, gave an interview to the German magazine Der Spiegel and below we briefly describe his opinion regarding the influence of Protestantism on the economy.
He has made an assessment of labor market statistics in nearly 80 countries including Western industrialized countries, China, India, Latin America, and Muslim countries such as Morocco and Turkey.
The comparison showed that on average, the employment rate, that is, the percentage of people working in the population, in Protestant countries is six percentage points higher than in countries characterized by other religions, whether Catholicism, Islam, or Hinduism.
For women, the rate is even eleven percent higher. Since women make up about half of the population, we must say that the difference lies precisely with them.
In Feldmann's comparison, women's paid work is not necessarily considered desirable and their employment rate is correspondingly significantly lower. Of course they work, but their work is unpaid since they work at home.
"The influence of Protestantism is indirect," Feldmann said in an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE. There doesn't necessarily have to be a lot of Protestants in a country with a high employment rate, but the religious background is also important.
“Religion has shaped the culture of a country.” Even though people today have little to do with the church, religion still continues to have an influence on their lives.
This is how the researcher explains the relatively high employment rates in Anglo-Saxon countries such as Great Britain and the USA, as well as in Scandinavian countries.
For Feldmann, these are all Protestant countries in which work ethic, disciplined work, and hard work prevail.
The article is also based on Holger Dambeck's article: "Protestant countries have a higher employment rate" in Spiegel Online October 2017