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Publications
  • November 2018
  • Article
  • Quarterly Journal of Economics

Global Evidence on Economic Preferences

By: Armin Falk, Anke Becker, Thomas Dohmen, Benjamin Enke, David Huffman and Uwe Sunde
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

This article studies the global variation in economic preferences. For this purpose, we present the Global Preference Survey (GPS), an experimentally validated survey data set of time preference, risk preference, positive and negative reciprocity, altruism, and trust from 80,000 people in 76 countries. The data reveal substantial heterogeneity in preferences across countries, but even larger within-country heterogeneity. Across individuals, preferences vary with age, gender, and cognitive ability, yet these relationships appear partly country specific. At the country level, the data reveal correlations between preferences and biogeographic and cultural variables, such as agricultural suitability, language structure, and religion. Variation in preferences is also correlated with economic outcomes and behaviors. Within countries and subnational regions, preferences are linked to individual savings decisions, labor market choices, and prosocial behaviors. Across countries, preferences vary with aggregate outcomes ranging from per capita income, to entrepreneurial activities, to the frequency of armed conflicts.

Keywords

Economic Preferences; Economics; Behavior; Surveys; Analytics and Data Science; Global Range

Citation

Falk, Armin, Anke Becker, Thomas Dohmen, Benjamin Enke, David Huffman, and Uwe Sunde. "Global Evidence on Economic Preferences." Quarterly Journal of Economics 113, no. 4 (November 2018): 1645–1692.
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About The Author

Anke Becker

Entrepreneurial Management
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More from the Authors
  • ELCA's Series A By: Anke Becker, Ray Kluender and William R. Kerr
  • Tabulated Nonsense? Testing the Validity of the Ethnographic Atlas By: Duman Bahrami-Rad, Anke Becker and Joseph Henrich
  • Ancient Origins of the Global Variation in Economic Preferences By: Anke Becker, Benjamin Enke and Armin Falk
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