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Research ArticleResearch Article

Risk Attitudes, Investment Behavior and Linguistic Variation

Juliana Bernhofer, Francesco Costantini and Matija Kovacic
Published online before print May 13, 2021, 0119-9999R2; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.59.2.0119-9999R2
Juliana Bernhofer
Juliana Bernhofer is an honorary fellow (“cultrice della materia”) at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and a researcher at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Economics and Management;
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  • For correspondence: [email protected]
Francesco Costantini
Francesco Costantini is associate professor in linguisticsat the University of Udine, Department of Humanities and Cultural Heritage Studies.
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Matija Kovacic
Matija Kovacic is an honorary fellow (“cultore della materia”) at the Ca’Foscari University of Venice, Department of Economics, and a researcher at the European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra (Italy);
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Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between linguistic variation and individual attitudes toward risk and uncertainty. We propose an innovative marker that classifies languages according to the number of non-indicative moods in the grammatical contexts involving uncertainty. We find that speakers of languages that use these moods more intensively are on average more risk averse. Our marker is then used to instrument risk aversion in the model for financial asset accumulation. In addition,by using Chen (2013)’s FTR linguistic marker as a proxy for the subjective discount rate, we disentangle the effects of risk aversion and time preferences on asset accumulation.

JEL Codes
  • D81
  • Z13
  • D14

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Journal of Human Resources: 60 (3)
Journal of Human Resources
Vol. 60, Issue 3
1 May 2025
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Risk Attitudes, Investment Behavior and Linguistic Variation
Juliana Bernhofer, Francesco Costantini, Matija Kovacic
Journal of Human Resources May 2021, 0119-9999R2; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.59.2.0119-9999R2

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Risk Attitudes, Investment Behavior and Linguistic Variation
Juliana Bernhofer, Francesco Costantini, Matija Kovacic
Journal of Human Resources May 2021, 0119-9999R2; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.59.2.0119-9999R2
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Keywords

  • D81
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  • D14
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