He believes that religion is essential for economic development, as observed among predominantly protestant christian societies.

This is most probably Max Weber who states that the lifestyle observed among Protestanistic societies play a very big role in the prosperity of a developing economy. He believes that the observed Protestant lifestyle itself produces values that can help enrich and grow the economy through productive labor. In other words, he observed that people live in Protestant societies develop values that help them work harder and be more productive as a whole. This would help in economic development.