Working Paper: NBER ID: w19615
Authors: Elaine M. Liu; Juanjuan Meng; Joseph Taoyi Wang
Abstract: This paper investigates how Confucianism affects individual decision making in Taiwan and in China. We found that Chinese subjects in our experiments became less accepting of Confucian values, such that they became significantly more risk loving, less loss averse, and more impatient after being primed with Confucianism, whereas Taiwanese subjects became significantly less present-based and were inclined to be more trustworthy after being primed by Confucianism. Combining the evidence from the incentivized laboratory experiments and subjective survey measures, we found evidence that Chinese subjects and Taiwanese subjects reacted differently to Confucianism.
Keywords: Confucianism; Risk Preferences; Loss Aversion; Time Preferences; Trustworthiness
JEL Codes: C91; Z10
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Historical experiences with confucianism (B11) | differences in reactions between Chinese and Taiwanese subjects (C91) |
| Confucius prime (A39) | increased risk-loving behavior (G41) |
| Confucius prime (A39) | reduced loss aversion (G41) |
| Confucius prime (A39) | heightened impatience (D84) |
| Confucius prime (A39) | extreme choices in risk aversion tasks (D81) |
| Confucius prime (A39) | decreased present bias in Taiwanese subjects (D15) |
| Confucius prime (A39) | increased trustworthiness in Taiwanese subjects (Z13) |