Genetic distance and intra-national variation in preferences and behaviours

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between genetic distance and intra-national variation in preferences and behaviours in the Chinese context. We focus on three categories of representative and fundamental preferences—risk, time, and social preferences—and related behaviours. The results suggest that genetic distance is positively related to the differences in risk, time, and social preferences. Furthermore, genetic distance is positively related to the differences in associated economic behaviours, including the differences in entrepreneurship, saving behaviour, cooperative behaviour, and prosocial behaviour. In general, an increase in one standard deviation of genetic distance is associated with an increase in differences in preferences and behaviours by 3–18 % of a standard deviation.