Confucian culture and household financial asset allocation: Based on a biomechanical mechanism perspective
Abstract
In the context of household financial decisions, the biomechanical mechanism mainly refers to a series of principles in which the internal physiological processes of the body are interrelated with psychological cognition and influence the decision-making results when individuals make financial decisions. From the perspective of neurobiology, Confucian culture can influence the allocation behavior of household financial assets through the neural mechanisms in multiple regions of the brain, mainly including the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and cingulate gyrus. From the perspective of the neuroendocrine system, the secretion levels of stress hormones such as cortisol are also closely related to household financial decisions. Stress responses, by influencing psychological cognition and neural mechanisms, have become one of the important biomechanical factors affecting financial decision-making behaviors. Confucian culture has profoundly influenced individuals’ choices in the allocation of household financial assets by affecting the triggering and cognitive assessment of stress responses, the neuroendocrine regulation related to stress responses, and exerting long-term impacts and intergenerational inheritance on stress responses, resulting in characteristics such as high savings and low participation in risky assets in the allocation of household financial assets. To verify the impact of Confucian culture on the allocation of household financial assets, this study constructs the Confucian culture variable by using the iterative principal factor method, constructs Probit and Tobit models, and conducts empirical analysis using the China Household Finance Survey data (CHFS). The study finds that Confucian culture can significantly promote savings, suppress the breadth and depth of households’ participation in the financial market, and lead to a more simplified allocation of financial assets. Heterogeneity analysis shows that its impact on elderly and low-income households is more significant. This study provides insights into the cultural and biological roots behind household financial asset allocation, offering new perspectives to explain how Confucian culture shapes financial behavior through biomechanical pathways. Future research can utilize neuroscience and genetic technologies to analyze the micro-genetic, neural regulation, and molecular connections between culture and biology in the influence of Confucian culture on financial decisions from the dimensions such as the integration of molecular genetics and cultural neuroscience, the exploration of gene-culture co-evolution, and the construction of gene expression network models, so as to contribute to the research in cultural economics.
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