The effect of language on economic behavior : examining the causal link between future tense and time preference in the lab
Since Chen (2013), a fast-growing body of literature has documented abundant supporting evidence for the linguistic-savings hypothesis. Despite this influx of research, direct causal evidence is limited. In this study, we take advantage of a unique linguistic feature of the Chinese language: speaker...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/142990 |
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| Institution: | Nanyang Technological University |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | Since Chen (2013), a fast-growing body of literature has documented abundant supporting evidence for the linguistic-savings hypothesis. Despite this influx of research, direct causal evidence is limited. In this study, we take advantage of a unique linguistic feature of the Chinese language: speakers can freely choose whether or not to use the future tense when referring to a future event. This flexibility allows us to unobtrusively manipulate the use of “will” in the description of the rewards in a standard time preference task to cleanly examine its effect on intertemporal decisions. However, our results do not lend further empirical support for the linguistic-savings hypothesis. |
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