欧美国家宗教文化与储蓄率差异研究——来自OECD国家的证据

The Difference between Occidental Countries' Religious Culture and Savings Rate——The Evidence from the OECD Countries

利用1975-2013年19个OECD国家的面板数据,把宗教信仰作为文化的代理变量,从而将文化引入储蓄率决定方程,考察文化对国民储蓄率的影响。研究结果显示:文化对国民储蓄率确实有显著影响,并且不同文化对国民储蓄率的影响不同;新教国家平均国民储蓄率高于19个OECD国家的平均国民储蓄率水平,天主教国家的平均国民储蓄率与这一水平基本持平,而伊斯兰教国家的平均国民储蓄率显著地低于这一水平;总体而言,新教对国民储蓄率具有显著的正向影响,而伊斯兰教对国民储蓄率具有显著的负向影响。

Putting religion as a proxy variable of culture and introducing culture into saving decision equation, this paper studies the impacts of cultural factors on saving rates using panel data of 19 countries belong to OECD for the period 1975-2013. Study results show that culture does have a significant impact on national saving rates, and the impact of different cultures on national saving rates is different. The average national saving rate of Protestant countries is higher than the average national saving rate of OECD, the average rate of Catholic countries was basically flat with that level, while Islamic countries significantly lie under this level. That is to say, Protestants have a positive effect on saving rates, while Islam has negative impact on saving rates.