Testing the Behavioral Life Cycle Hypothesis

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  • 消費における行動ライフ・サイクル仮説の検証
  • ショウヒ ニ オケル コウドウ ライフ ・ サイクル カセツ ノ ケンショウ

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Abstract

This study centred on the behavioral life cycle hypothesis as the hypothesis which explains consumption behavior and examined whether this hypothesis is valid in reality by using a questionnaire given to undergraduates. The results of our analysis showed that the behavioral life cycle hypothesis is valid. The behavioral life cycle hypothesis assumes that people have an account of current income, an account of current asset and an account of future asset in their mind and consume according to each account. Actual human beings are different from the human beings of standard economic theory because they are myopic and their ability to calculate is limited. Therefore, it pays to bind their myopic behavior which attaches greater importance to the present than to the future. The device to do this is mental accounting. People open their current asset account and future asset account in their mind to put a brake on their consumption. Because of their limited ability to calculate, people adopt a simple rule that the number of account is limited to a few.

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