Thursday, March 26, 2009

People respond to incentives, Orthodox edition

BBC:
At the end of 2007, in a move to reverse the Caucasian country's dwindling birth figures, the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, came up with an incentive. He promised to personally baptise any baby born to parents of more than two children.

There was only one catch: the baby had to be born after the initiative was launched.

The results are, in the words of the Georgian Orthodox Church, "a miracle".

The country's birth rate increased by nearly 20% during 2008 - a rate four times faster than the previous year.

Many parents say they took the decision to have another child on the basis of the Patriarch's incentive.
...
The next baptism is scheduled for early April, when thousands of mums, dads and their children will cram into Tbilisi's biggest church, the Sameba Cathedral. The babies will be briefly dipped into a gigantic inflatable font after receiving a blessing from his Holiness, Ilia II.

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2 Comments:

Blogger nzm said...

Hi John

I found this article by Simon Johnson to be a good read.

The Quiet Coup.

4:24 PM  
Anonymous MRK said...

Hi John,
Read a very interesting comment on Arabian Business... now Dubai property developer are claiming 'force majeure'... in the name of economic recession...

full comments here:
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/550880-investors-look-to-benefit-from-dubai-property-court#comment-49311

2:51 PM  

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