The Effect of Language on Economic Behavior: Evidence from Savings Rates, Health Behaviors, and Retirement Assets
This report investigates how language structure influences economic behavior, specifically examining the impact of grammatical distinctions between the present and future on future-oriented activities such as saving and health behaviors.
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| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Report location: | source |
| Language: | English |
| Publisher: |
american economic review |
| Authors: | M. Keith Chen |
| Geographic focus: | Global |
Methods
The research method involves cross-country and within-country regression analyses using data from the World Values Survey, the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe, and the World Bank. It examines the correlation between language structure and future-oriented behaviors, controlling for demographic and economic factors.
(Generated with the help of GPT-4)
Key Insights
The study tests the hypothesis that languages which grammatically equate the present and future promote future-oriented behavior. Analyzing data from various countries, it finds that speakers of such languages save more, retire with more wealth, smoke less, practice safer sex, and are less obese.
(Generated with the help of GPT-4)
Additional Viewpoints
Categories: English publication language | Global geographic scope | cross-country analysis | demographic controls | economic behaviour | economic controls | future time reference | health behavior | intertemporal choice | language | language structure | retirement wealth | savings behavior | within-country analysis