Well it does really. You can see that everywhere it’s adopted. You will get a better economy. Period. When Christians leave, the economy will get worse. Period.

But incentives are incentives are incentives. So non-european countries have serious impediments to high trust.

  1. Authoritarian political orders evolved from dispute resolution such as the irrigation areas of Egypt, Mesopotamia and China.

  2. Lack of advanced economies promoting ‘everyone is a customer’ – often in the same places.

  3. Diversity and competition too great to overcome. (Levant, Central Asia, Arabia.)

  4. Inbreeding and tribal marriage inhibit development of ‘everyone a potential mate, and everyone a potential customer’.

  5. Genetic predisposition that evolved under higher selection pressures (group selection rather than individual selection via mating).

(h/t paul)

Source: (2) Curt Doolittle