The effect of culture on consumption: A behavioral approach

This paper studies the connection between culture and consumption behavior. Linkages are drawn from manifestations of culture, involving both political style and personal preferences, to the key character traits of self-restraint and future focus. These character traits are then related to consumption behavior through a quasi-hyperbolic discounting model to generate hypotheses. Panel data for 89 countries and territories for the period 1999–2018 are used to test these hypotheses. With respect to political style, the results indicate that corruption, non-transparency in the public sector, and government intervention in banking reduce a country’s consumption. With respect to personal attributes, a long-term view is found to lower consumption and individualism to raise it. This study is motivated by a concern that for China in particular, stronger consumption will be needed to sustain long-term growth. Of particular relevance to the Chinese case, we find that countries with Confucian traditions have national consumption rates that are lower than global norms by more than 10 percentage points as a share of GDP. Even against this backdrop, however, we suggest there is scope to boost consumption with policies that fight corruption, promote transparency, reduce government intervention in the economy, and foster a stronger sense of the individual.     

论构建具有自我约束能力的人民币发行机制

无论以何种口径衡量,人民币发行过多都是不争的事实,导致这一现象的最重要的原因就在于人民币发行方式本身的局限。比较国际上主要货币的发行方式就能发现,人民币发行明显缺乏自我约束机制。解决这一问题的出路在于构建买国债发货币的框架,树立国民利益为本的目标原则,同时推进相关的条件和环节的规范与完善。