Fatalistic Tendencies: An Explanation of Why People Don't Save
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Stephen Wu
This paper uses data from the 2001 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) and the 2000 World Values Survey (WVS) to analyze the role of fatalism in determining household savings behavior. SCF respondents who feel that luck has played an important role in their financial affairs are more likely to realize their need to save, but are less likely to actually do so. Cross-country evidence from the WVS shows that those who believe they have little freedom and control over their lives are also less likely to save. The results hold after controlling for a number of demographic and behavioral factors, and are consistent across income and wealth levels.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Contributions Article
- Cash Constraints and Business Start-Ups: Deutschmarks Versus Dollars
- On-the-Job Learning, Firing Costs and Employment
- The Effect of the Nonprofit Motive on Hospital Competitive Behavior
- Electoral Competition and Redistribution with Rationally Informed Voters
- The Environmental Kuznets Curve: Exploring a Fresh Specification
- Uncertain R&D and the Porter Hypothesis
- Do Economists Recognize an Opportunity Cost When They See One? A Dismal Performance from the Dismal Science
- A Theory of Health Disparities and Medical Technology
- Entry-Level Products with Consumer Learning
- A Test for Collusion between a Bidder and an Auctioneer in Sealed-Bid Auctions
- Fatalistic Tendencies: An Explanation of Why People Don't Save
- Adjustment Costs and Irreversibility as Determinants of Investment: Evidence from African Manufacturing
- An Index For Venture Capital, 1987-2003
- Environmental Information Provision as a Public Policy Instrument
- Competition Policy and Exit Rates: Evidence from Switzerland
- Political Variables as Instruments for the Minimum Wage