The Economics of Prejudice

October 19, 2014 in Daily Bulletin

The Economist wrote:

  • Anti-Semites have often claimed, for a large part of history, that Jewish people control the world of finance.
  • So much so that it seems that areas with a legacy of anti-Semitism avoid using finance.
  • According to a study, even today, areas in Germany where Jews were most likely to be sent to concentration camps are 7.5% less likely to invest in stocks, when compared to other Germans.
  • This is to their disadvantage – such individuals get lower returns on their savings, imposing a direct financial cost on them.
  • The authors conclude that “persecution of minorities reduces not only the long-term wealth of the persecuted, but of the persecutors as well”

It is perhaps important to note that this is “a cultural norm of distrust in finance that has transmitted across generations independently from anti-Semitism”. Read more details here.

Source: The Economist