RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Risk Attitudes, Investment Behavior and Linguistic Variation JF Journal of Human Resources JO J Hum Resour FD University of Wisconsin Press SP 0119-9999R2 DO 10.3368/jhr.59.2.0119-9999R2 A1 Bernhofer, Juliana A1 Costantini, Francesco A1 Kovacic, Matija YR 2021 UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2021/05/04/jhr.59.2.0119-9999R2.abstract AB 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.