Title: Religious culture, democratisation and patterns of technological innovation

Authors: Mario Coccia

Addresses: CNR – National Research Council of Italy, CERIS-CNR, Institute for Economic Research on Firm and Growth, Collegio Carlo Alberto – via Real Collegio, n. 30 – 10024 Moncalieri, Torino, Italy; Georgia Institute of Technology, D.M. Smith Building, 685 Cherry Street, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the interaction among technological innovation, democratisation and predominant religious culture of countries, as well as some critical socio-economic determinants of technological outputs. The findings show that countries with a predominance of the Protestant, Jewish and Eastern religions have technological performance higher than countries with other predominant religious cultures. In addition, the statistical evidence, in general, confirms de facto the hypothesis that higher religious fractionalisation, ceteris paribus, may support innovative outputs, in particular among the richer and more democratic countries, which are mainly located in the European and North-American geo-economic areas.

Keywords: religion; innovation; religious fractionalisation; democratisation; civilisation; religious culture; innovation patterns; technological innovation; socio-economic determinants; Protestant religion; Jewish religion; Eastern religions; technological performance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSOC.2014.066771

International Journal of Sustainable Society, 2014 Vol.6 No.4, pp.397 - 418

Published online: 14 Jan 2015 *

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