Are Americans More Altruistic than the Japanese? - A U.S.-Japan Comparison of Saving and Bequest Motives

Aug 26, 2026

Analyzes cross-national evidence on household saving motives, bequest motives, and bequest division using the “Comparative Survey of Savings in Japan and the United States,” conducted in 1996. The paper compares the explanatory power of the selfish life cycle, altruism, and dynasty models of household behavior across the U.S. and Japan. Results show the selfish life cycle model dominates in both countries, but fits Japan far better than the U.S., while altruism fits the U.S. more strongly than Japan, and the dynasty model remains limited even in Japan.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages46

Reading Time1 h 56 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Models of household behavior and research purpose

Data source: comparative savings survey

Empirical findings across the U.S. and Japan

NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES ARE AMERICANS MORE ALTRUISTIC THAN THE JAPANESE? A U.S.-JAPAN COMPARISON OF SAVING AND BEQUEST MOTIVES Charles Yuji Horioka Hideki Fujisaki Wako Watanabe Takatsugu Kouno Working Paper 7463 [http://www.nber.org/papers/w7463](http://www.nber.org/papers/w7463) NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 January 2000 The authors are grateful to Robert Barsky, B. Douglas Bernheim, David Campbell, Christopher D. Carroll, Jay Pil Choi, Thomas Dunn, Mitsuhiro Fukao, Joon-Ho Hahm, Koji Hamada, Shigeyuki Hamori, Fumio Hayashi, Yoshio Higuchi, Wontack Hong, Ken’ichi Kanie, Miles Kimball, Yukinobu Kitamura, Junko Koie, Per Krusell, Masahiro Kuroda, Robert Lipsey, Atsushi Maki, Hirohisa Maki, Dick Nanto, Kazuo Ogawa, Fumio Ohtake, Megumi Okui, Daekeun Park, Chang Yong Rhee, Kazuo Sato, Gary Saxonhouse, Matthew Shapiro, Yukiko Shigeno, E. Young Song, Linda Tesar, David Weinstein, participants of the National Bureau of Economic Research Japan Project meetings held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 18-19, 1997, and April 17-18, 1998, the Ninth and Tenth Conferences ofthe Institute for Postsand Telecommunications Policy held in Tokyo, Japan, on May 21, 1997, and May 20, 1998, the Conference on Wealth, Inheritance, and Intergenerational Transfers held at the University of Essex on June 22-23, 1997, the Japan Economic Seminar held at George Washington University on April 25, 1998, the Aging Workshop of the NBER Summer Institute held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on July 27-31, 1998, the Japanese Economic Association meeting held in Tokyo, Japan, on September 13-14, 1997, the Japan Society of Monetary Economics meeting held in Osaka, Japan, on October 24-25, 1998, and the International Economic Journal Economics Annual held in Seoul, Korea, on October 29, 1999, and seminar participants at the University of Hawaii, the University of Michigan, Keio University, Osaka Universtity, and Syracuse University for their helpful comments. In addition, Horioka is grateful to the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of the Government of Japan for a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (project number 09206209) . Forthcoming inInternationalEconomic Journal, vol. 14, no. 1 (Spring 2000) . The views expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Bureau of Economic Research. © 2000 by Charles Yuji Horioka, Hideki Fujisaki, Wako Watanabe, and Takatsugu Kouno. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Are Americans More Altruistic than the Japanese? A U.S.-Japan Comparison of Saving and Bequest Motives Charles Yuji Horioka, Hideki Fujisaki, Wako Watanabe, and Takatsugu Kouno NBER Working Paper No. 7463 January 2000 JEL No. D12, D91, E21 ABSTRACT In this paper, we analyze a variety of data on saving motives, bequest motives, and bequest division from the “Comparative Survey of Savings in Japan and the United States,” a binational survey conducted in 1996 by the Institute for Posts and Telecommunications Policy of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the Government of Japan, in order to shed light on which model of household behavior applies in the two countries. We find (1) that the selfish life cycle model is the dominant model of household behavior in both countries but that it is far more applicable in Japan than it is in the U.S.,(2) that the altruism model is far more applicable in the U.S. than it is in Japan but that it is not the dominant model of household behavior in either country, and (3) that the dynasty model is more applicable in Japan than it is in the U.S. but that it is of only limited applicability even in Japan. Charles Yuji Horioka Institute of Social and Economic Research Osaka University 6-1, Mihogaoka Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047 J

FAQs

What data source does the paper use to compare the U.S. and Japan?

It uses the 1996 “Comparative Survey of Savings in Japan and the United States,” a binational survey conducted by Japan’s Institute for Posts and Telecommunications Policy.

Which household behavior models are evaluated in the paper?

The paper evaluates the selfish life cycle model, the altruism model, and the dynasty model as competing explanations for saving and bequest behavior.

What are the main conclusions about how motives differ between the U.S. and Japan?

The selfish life cycle model dominates in both countries but is much more applicable in Japan. The altruism model applies more to the U.S. than to Japan, while the dynasty model is more applicable in Japan but has limited overall applicability.

Aug 26, 2026

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