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Some are more successful than others. Well yes….

I am not at all sure how these figures of net household wealth listed by religious affiliation would translate to Australia, but this study from Britain’s official “National Equality Panel” reported by the indefatigable Theodore Dalrymple in the City Journal is suggestive of a principle at least. With this caveat — Australia is a different kind of host country, the ethnic makeup and origin of the immigrant groups is different, as are their employment opportunities — it is nevertheless worth noting Dalrymple’s general principle.

The figures were as follows (I convert into American dollars):

Muslim: $68,000

None: $224,000

Hindu: $337,000

Christian: $361,000

Sikh: $371,000

Jewish: $684,000

Overall, the figures demonstrate that, in an open society, cultural attitudes and characteristics are of enormous importance with regard to a group’s prospects in that society. Of course, it is no easy matter to change cultural characteristics that are not propitious for economic and social ascent; but the first step, surely, is to destroy the illusion that salvation lies in the hands of political and bureaucratic entrepreneurs whose only effect is to make society sclerotic and thereby transform class into caste.

[Thanks to reader Stone the Crows]

This entry was posted on May 17, 2010 at 20:57 and is filed under culture, economics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.