Heaven help Economics!

I still can't decide whether this new paper from world famous economist Robert Barro and his wife (abstract copied below) is evidence that economic decision making permeates even the most unlikely reaches of human (and celestial!!) society, or whether it is just a sign of a coming apocalypse of macroeconomics into absurdity. (Related to Sandra's post below this, there may be a cautionary tale about marriage in there somewhere as well!!)

"Saints Marching in, 1590-2009" by Robert Barro and Rachel Mccleary

Abstract: The Catholic Church has been making saints for centuries, typically in a two-stage process featuring beatification and canonization. We analyze determinants of rates of beatification and canonization (for non-martyrs) over time and across six world regions. The research uses a recently assembled data set on numbers and characteristics of beatifieds and saints chosen since 1590. We classify these blessed persons regionally in accordance with residence at death. These data are combined with time-series estimates of regional populations of Catholics, broadly-defined Protestants, Orthodox, and Evangelicals (mostly a sub-set of Protestants). Regression estimates indicate that the canonization rate depends strongly on the number of candidates, gauged by a region’s stock of beatifieds who have not yet been canonized. The beatification rate depends positively on the region’s stock of persons previously canonized. The last two popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI (the only non-Italians in our sample), are outliers, choosing blessed persons at a much higher rate than that of their predecessors. Since around 1900, the naming of blessed persons seems to reflect a response by the Catholic Church to competition from Protestantism or Evangelicalism. We find no evidence, at least since 1590, of competition between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.