“Ye Shall Know Them by Their Fruits” : A Mixed Methods Study on Corruption, Competitiveness, and Christianity in Europe and the Americas

Why are historically Catholic countries and regions generally more corrupt and less competitive than historically Protestant ones?

Part I: Introductory Considerations and Research Setting.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Research Setting.- Part II: Conceptual Framework.- 3. The Outcome (Criterion Variables).- 4. Diagnosing Corruption and Prosperity in Europe and the Americas (A).- 5. Conditions (Predictor Variables): Theories Explaining Prosperity Differences  (B), (C), (D), (E).- Part III: Theoretical Foundations.- 6. Corruption and Religion (A), (B), (1).- 7. Prosperity and Religion (A), (B), (1).- 8. Institutions, Corruption/Prosperity, and Religion (A), (B), (D), (1), (3), (6).- 9. Education, Religion, and Corruption/Prosperity (A), (B), (C), (1), (2).- 10. Culture, Religion, and Corruption/Prosperity (A), (B), (C), (1), (2).- 11. Language and Religion.- 12. Environment/Geography and Prosperity/Transparency (E), (4), (7).- Part IV: Research Paradigms, Methodology, and Research Design.- 13. Applied Research Paradigms.- 14. Methodology.- Part V: Empirical Results.- 15. Component 1 (Macro): Quantitative (Regression) Analysis.- 16. Component 2 (Meso): Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA).- Part VI: Component 3 (Micro).- 17. Case Selection Criteria, Methods, and Data Treatment.- 18.    a) Switzerland: Extreme Positive Case Study (Worldwide).- 19. b) Uruguay: Extreme Positive Case Study (Latin America).- 20. c) Cuba: A Sui Generis Case Study (Communist proxy).- 21. d) Colombia: Extreme Negative Case Study.- 22. Summary Overview of the Four Case Studies.- Part VII: Discussion and Conclusions.- 23. Integrative Conclusions.- 24. Other Considerations.- 25. Concluding Remarks.