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The Competitive Saving Motive: Concept, Evidence, and Implications

Author

Listed:
  • Shang-Jin Wei

    (Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, Asian Development Bank, Mandaluyong City, 1550 Metro Manila, Philippines)

  • Xiaobo Zhang

    (National School of Development, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; International Food Policy Research Institute)

Abstract

This short essay surveys recent literature on the competitive saving motive and its broader economic implications. The competitive saving motive is defined as saving to improve one¡¯s status relative to other competitors for dating and marriage partners. Here are some of the key results of the recent literature: (i) cross-country evidence show that greater gender imbalances tend to correspond with higher savings rates; (ii) household-level evidence suggest that: (a) families with unmarried sons in rural regions with more skewed sex ratios tend to have higher savings rates, while savings rates of families with unmarried daughters appear uncorrelated with gender imbalances; and (b) savings rates of families in cities tend to rise with the local sex ratio; (iii) rising sex ratios contribute nearly half of the rise in housing prices in the People¡¯s Republic of China; and (iv) families with sons in regions of greater sex ratios are more likely to become entrepreneurs and take risky jobs to earn more income.

Suggested Citation

  • Shang-Jin Wei & Xiaobo Zhang, 2016. "The Competitive Saving Motive: Concept, Evidence, and Implications," Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, Higher Education Press, vol. 11(3), pages 355-366, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:fec:journl:v:11:y:2016:i:3:p:355-366
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    File URL: http://journal.hep.com.cn/fec/EN/10.3868/s060-005-016-0020-2
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    Cited by:

    1. Wen, Xin & Cheng, Zhiming & Tani, Massimiliano, 2025. "Daughters, Savings and Household Finances," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    2. Charles Yuji Horioka & Akiko Terada-Hagiwara, 2017. "The impact of sex ratios before marriage on household saving in two Asian countries: The competitive saving motive revisited," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 739-757, September.
    3. Chen, Qiuyu & Feng, Ling & Li, Zhiyuan & Lin, Ching-Yi, 2021. "Housing prices and trade surpluses in China: An inter-temporal approach," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    4. Charles Yuji Horioka & Akiko Terada-Hagiwara, 2016. "The Impact of Pre-marital Sex Ratios on Household Saving in Two Asian Countries: The Competitive Saving Motive Revisited," ISER Discussion Paper 0975, Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of Osaka.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment
    • F3 - International Economics - - International Finance
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor

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