do recessions breed superstition?

We know - from our observing own behaviour or that of those around us - that people are more likely to resort to superstitious beliefs when they're under stress (in the same way that there are no atheists in a falling plane) but is there a general rise in superstition during hard economic times, and the extra anxiety they bring? A recent study of the price of personalised number plates in China suggests there might be, because the price of number plates with "unlucky" numbers falls disproportionately during hard times:

Travis Ng and colleagues investigated the value of Hong Kong car number plates purchased through auction from 1997 to 2009 and found that an ordinary 4-digit plate with one extra lucky ’8′ was sold 63.5 per cent higher on average. An extra unlucky ’4′ by contrast diminished the average 4-digit plate value by 11 per cent. In Cantonese the number “8″ rhymes with “prosperity” whereas the number “4″ sounds like the word for “death.” Moreover the fluctuations in the prices of lucky and unlucky plates mirrored the economic fluctuations with unlucky numbers dropping the most during recessions.

(via Bruce Hood)

Comments

[David]

Interestingly, Newsweek has an article on church attendance in the US, and how it seems to be inversely correlated with GDP:

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/22/no-atheists-in-foxholes.html

[ejoch]

One of the best illustrations I've ever heard, of the perils of relying on superstition when in trouble of stressed, was from the writer Joe Simpson. He was talking about 'Touching the Void', and was asked if when he was trapped in the crevasse, he'd even felt like turning to his (childhood) religion. No, was the reply. And he explained that if he had, he'd probably have died. If he'd believed in a happy afterlife or that just sitting praying would help, he'd have just stayed right where he was, rather than trying to get out.

[peter]

I'm not convinced that such Chinese behaviours about numbers constitute any support for "superstition". If you live in a society in which most people believe strongly that the number "4" is unlucky, then you can be very sure that those people will do odd things around when you have a car with a number-plate containing lots of 4s: they may drive evasively around you, they may refuse to let you in or grant you your right-of-way, they may park you into carparks, they may refuse to travel with you as passengers in your car, they may deface it, etc. Obversely, for the number "8".

In other words, if most people around you believe something very strongly, then it can be very rational (in the sense of maximizing your own welfare) for you, as a single individual, to act as if you too believe it. And acting like you believe something is not by any means the same thing as believing it. I think a little game theory would not be amiss here.

[Scott]

Superstition also goes by the names "ancient wisdom" and "common sense".