[1] "The Evolution of Middle Class Chinese Outbound Travel Preferences: An International Perspective": https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262789226_The_Evolu...
Isn't that a stage that all countries go through? Before the EPA the environment in the US was probably just as bad.
South Korea, Japan, and Singapore might be counterexamples, though.
While China is generally considered the least democratic country in the world, it does exhibit some glimmers of democracy. Democracy is most certainly not a binary state.
Regardless, China is still quite poor compared to peer countries. Maybe that will change someday, but it is a long road ahead.
Czechia (Czech Republic) is a strongly atheist country and doing quite well. None of the East Asian countries are Protestant or Jewish. Italy's GDP, a Catholic country, is on par with Canada's; Poland, another Catholic country, is enjoying robust growth; Ireland, also Catholic, is doing fantastic.
South Korea's growth was initiated under a military dictatorship, as was Spain's. The country with the highest GDP per capita, Monaco, is hardly democratic; Singapore was ruled by a dictator for a long time; Vietnam, a socialist republic, is on a remarkable upward trajectory.
Because Ireland, Italy, Czechia are markedly diverse nations with pluralistic religions being represented, and those minorities are growing. The first two have a strong history of Catholicism and so as a religion, it's embedded in myriad aspects of common culture that can't be swept away as easily in a sex abuse scandal. Yet in these United States, we have many who will disavow our "Judeo-Christian roots" because of the disestablishmentarianism of our Founding Fathers and enshrined in our Constitution.
I think the real comparison would be Arab Muslim nations, which strive towards a "vertical integration" of religious faith, morality, ethnicity, linguistic heritage, culture, and all that. Such a monoculture can make for a powerful nation that is unmatched by even China, which is comparatively a beacon of D.E.I. I mean, everyone else in the world is literally attempting to reimplement Genesis 11.
Of course this is a fundamentally silly conversation to have, because the primary goal and aim of Christianity (or Islam or Confucianism or what have you) has never been to enrich the populace or put money in the nation's coffers; that's merely a desirable means to an end. I believe that the OP was alluding to some mythical "Protestant Work Ethic" ideal that is perhaps epitomized by the Amish/Mennonite way of reinventing cloistered monasteries around family units.
SRC: was raised Catholic...
What second-rate results are we talking about? Japan, a rocky island with regular earthquakes and typhoons, and no natural resources to speak of, was the second-largest economy in the world for most of the past 50 years.
Like the extremely Protestant and Jewish countries of Spain, France, Italy, Ireland, Poland...I'm actually tired of listing countries now.