The Effect of Language on Economic Behavior: Experimental Evidence from Children's Intertemporal Choices

48 Pages Posted: 28 Oct 2015

See all articles by Matthias Sutter

Matthias Sutter

Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods

Silvia Angerer

UMIT TIROL - Private University for Health Sciences and Health Technology

Daniela Glätzle-Rützler

University of Innsbruck - Department of Public Finance

Philipp Lergetporer

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) - Ifo Institute

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: September 30, 2015

Abstract

According to Chen’s (2013) linguistic-savings hypothesis, languages which grammatically separate the future and the present (like English or Italian) induce less future-oriented behavior than languages in which speakers can refer to the future by using present tense (like German). We complement Chen’s approach with experimentally elicited time preference data from a bilingual city in Northern Italy. We find that German-speaking primary school children are about 46% more likely than Italian-speaking children to delay gratification in an intertemporal choice experiment. This result is robust when controlling for risk attitudes, IQ, family background, or when considering other languages.

Keywords: intertemporal choice, language, children, experiment

JEL Classification: C910, D030, D900

Suggested Citation

Sutter, Matthias and Angerer, Silvia and Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela and Lergetporer, Philipp, The Effect of Language on Economic Behavior: Experimental Evidence from Children's Intertemporal Choices (September 30, 2015). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 5532, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2681024 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2681024

Matthias Sutter (Contact Author)

Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods ( email )

Kurt-Schumacher-Str. 10
D-53113 Bonn, 53113
Germany

Silvia Angerer

UMIT TIROL - Private University for Health Sciences and Health Technology ( email )

Eduard-Wallnöfer-Zentrum 1
Hall, Tirol 6060
Austria

Daniela Glätzle-Rützler

University of Innsbruck - Department of Public Finance ( email )

Innrain 52
Innsbruck, 6020
Austria

Philipp Lergetporer

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) - Ifo Institute ( email )

Dresden Branch
Einsteinstraße 3
Dresden, 01069
Germany

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