Behavioral risk factors and linguistic structure: does the language we speak affect our choices?

Abstract

This thesis has the purpose of testing the hypothesis that languages characterized by a strong Future Time Reference (FTR), which foster a grammatical distinction between present and future, lead to a higher likelihood of tobacco use, alcohol consumption and obesity than languages with a weak FTR, besides affecting saving decisions. In line with Chen (2013), we develop a Logit model using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) in order to quantify a direct causal effect of linguistic structure on behavioral risk factors, in particular in linguistically heterogeneous countries.