LDS economics student here, so I feel unusually targeted by the content of this article. As always with this topic, my mind turns to McKay Coppins’ brilliant “The Most American Religion”, in the Atlantic. As he points out, there is no other subgroup in the country that is subjected to, and actively tolerates, this level of gawking exoticism – what an ethnic studies department might call “otherism.”
There is this curious blind spot that seems to exist within the analytical processes of ordinarily keen, intelligent, and methodologically consistent pundits/writers; whenever you substitute in the Mormons for some alternative subgroup, any analysis must immediately be founded upon their doctrinal beliefs instead of any acknowledgement that they are typically rational, utility-maximizing people like most any other subgroup in America.
In fact, as Coppins argues in the aforementioned article (I’ll link it below), the belief structure of LDS adherents is often precisely the wrong analytical path to take, given that our historical friction with mainstream American society has birthed a slightly paranoid commitment to fitting in and not rocking the boat. Hence the LDS church blandly swallowing modern cultural expressions of mockery such as Under the Banner of Heaven, Big Love, or the Book of Mormon musical.
You’ve probably seen this already, but personal bankruptcy rates trend noticeably higher in states where debt collection is more robust, like where wage garnishing is easier. here’s the paper we wrote on it: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/596561
Lush, green grass is beautiful. Especially so in what would otherwise be an arid wilderness. In the southwest , a green yard is like a desert oasis.
Because most of Utah actually has a winter season and people experience snow at their homes, as well as a immense snow in the mountains, Utahns do not perceive themselves living in a desert. I know I did not when I lived there. Water seemed abundant. In 1983 there was too much water flowing out of the mountains and flooding the Great Salt Lake!
As this post explains, Utahns have lush green lawns because such lawns are desirable and the pricing of water in Utah made growing such lawns obtainable to the typical home owner.
Given how much the state population has increased, perhaps it no longer makes economic sense for all homeowners to have lush grass lawns. But it does make sense for many to do so given how desirable such lawns are. Put another way, the more green lawns are replaced by zeroscape landscaping, the less desirable neighborhoods will become. That would be a tremendous economic loss
LDS economics student here, so I feel unusually targeted by the content of this article. As always with this topic, my mind turns to McKay Coppins’ brilliant “The Most American Religion”, in the Atlantic. As he points out, there is no other subgroup in the country that is subjected to, and actively tolerates, this level of gawking exoticism – what an ethnic studies department might call “otherism.”
There is this curious blind spot that seems to exist within the analytical processes of ordinarily keen, intelligent, and methodologically consistent pundits/writers; whenever you substitute in the Mormons for some alternative subgroup, any analysis must immediately be founded upon their doctrinal beliefs instead of any acknowledgement that they are typically rational, utility-maximizing people like most any other subgroup in America.
In fact, as Coppins argues in the aforementioned article (I’ll link it below), the belief structure of LDS adherents is often precisely the wrong analytical path to take, given that our historical friction with mainstream American society has birthed a slightly paranoid commitment to fitting in and not rocking the boat. Hence the LDS church blandly swallowing modern cultural expressions of mockery such as Under the Banner of Heaven, Big Love, or the Book of Mormon musical.
You’ve probably seen this already, but personal bankruptcy rates trend noticeably higher in states where debt collection is more robust, like where wage garnishing is easier. here’s the paper we wrote on it: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/596561
Lush, green grass is beautiful. Especially so in what would otherwise be an arid wilderness. In the southwest , a green yard is like a desert oasis.
Because most of Utah actually has a winter season and people experience snow at their homes, as well as a immense snow in the mountains, Utahns do not perceive themselves living in a desert. I know I did not when I lived there. Water seemed abundant. In 1983 there was too much water flowing out of the mountains and flooding the Great Salt Lake!
As this post explains, Utahns have lush green lawns because such lawns are desirable and the pricing of water in Utah made growing such lawns obtainable to the typical home owner.
Given how much the state population has increased, perhaps it no longer makes economic sense for all homeowners to have lush grass lawns. But it does make sense for many to do so given how desirable such lawns are. Put another way, the more green lawns are replaced by zeroscape landscaping, the less desirable neighborhoods will become. That would be a tremendous economic loss