HONG KONG SAR –\u00a0Media OutReach<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a019 August 2021 –\u00a0<\/b>China has seen some of the most
The study found those who experienced a major earthquake
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jaimie Lien<\/a>,
\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Can a life-altering experience
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The study Major Earthquakes Experience and Presently-Gratifying
\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Chengdu in Sichuan province is
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The researchers reached their
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Living <\/b>f<\/b>or Today?<\/b><\/p>\n
The study found that there was no
In addition, those who experienced a
\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Like designer clothing and
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The more traditional state
\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition, families with
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another major difference in household
\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Education is an investment in
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Are Earthquakes Special?<\/b><\/p>\n
While many economists and marketing
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The researchers suggest that future research
\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Experiencing an earthquake
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reference:<\/b><\/p>\n
Lien, Jaimie W. and Peng, Qingqing and Zheng, Jie,
\u00a0<\/p>\n
This article was first published in the China
HONG KONG SAR –\u00a0Media OutReach\u00a0–\u00a019 August 2021 –\u00a0China has seen some of the most
destructive earthquakes in history. For example, the devastating 2008
Earthquake in Sichuan province
killed over 69,000 people, left up to 11 million people homeless and caused up to US$20
billion in property damage. The country
sits atop seismically active areas, and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16994"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ndestructive earthquakes in history. For example, the devastating 2008
\nEarthquake in Sichuan province<\/a>
\nkilled over 69,000 people, left up to 11 million people homeless<\/a> and caused up to US$20
\nbillion<\/a> in property damage. The country
\nsits atop seismically active areas, and it had 118
\nearthquakes<\/a> in the past year. This setting
\nprovided the backdrop for a group of researchers to look at whether near-death
\nexperiences, such as major earthquakes, can influence people’s spending
\npatterns. They found that those who experienced major earthquakes early in life
\nare more likely to “live in the moment” after a traumatic experience.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/release.media-outreach.com\/release.php\/Images\/Thumb\/500x0\/170247\/iStock-2-.jpg#image-170247\")
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nsplashed out more on conspicuous items, including jewellery. (source: iStock)<\/i><\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nAssistant Professor of the Department of Decision Sciences and Managerial
\nEconomics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School and her
\ncollaborators became interested in how major earthquakes
\nin China affect people’s spending preferences.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\naffect our outlook on life and change our spending priorities? When people get
\nmarried, have a child, or retire, they often change their values and
\nlifestyles, which consequently affect how they spend money,” she says, “but
\nwhat about for life events beyond our own control, such as natural disasters?”<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nExpenditures<\/a> was conducted by Prof. Lien, Prof.
\nQingqing Peng at Chongqing Technology and Business University and Prof. Jie
\nZheng at Tsinghua University. The researchers found that people with direct
\nexperience of major earthquakes tend to spend significantly more on travel and
\nentertainment, luxury goods and health products after experiencing an
\nearthquake while spending less on education.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\na great example and was a source of inspiration for our study. The city is
\nknown for its laid-back lifestyle and its people are famous for their leisurely
\npace, but at the same time, it is also in a region that is prone to recurring
\ncatastrophic earthquakes,” Prof. Lien says.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nfindings after examining the major earthquakes that occurred in all of China
\nfrom 1920 to 2008 and how it correlated with urban household spending from 2002
\nto 2009. They compared the spending patterns of families whose head of
\nhousehold was living in an earthquake-stricken area before a major earthquake
\nand those that settled or were born in the area only after the major earthquake
\nhad passed.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nsignificant difference in the saving habits between families which lived
\nthrough a major earthquake, with those who did not. However, there were
\ndifferences in how they allocate their family expenditures. Specifically, families
\nwith earthquake experience spent, as a share of total household expenditure,
\n0.3 percentage points more on entertainment and entertainment-related products,
\nsuch as video cameras and computers. They also spent 0.1 percentage points more
\non trips, travels and other entertainment services.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nmajor earthquake also splashed out more on clothing, jewellery, watches, which
\naccounted for almost half a percentage point increase in the total family
\nexpenditure. They also spent about a quarter of a percentage point more on
\nhealth-related devices, such as massage chairs, and Chinese health supplements,
\nsuch as ginseng, royal jelly and bird’s nest.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\njewellery, these types of ‘health food’ are considered luxurious and expensive,
\nand are a show of status,” Prof. Lien comments. “One of the reasons
\nwhy people buy luxurious goods is to make themselves feel better in the
\npresent. After you’ve had a near-death experience, it’s understandable and only
\nhuman nature to want to feel alive and happy in the moment.”<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nnewspapers, on the other hand, are well suited to delivering political
\ndirectives and policy-related information. Due to their close relationship with
\ngovernmental units, these big official rags can provide the most precise policy
\ndirection and industry trends for corporate news. For instance, the study found
\nthat on average, their articles supply 10 percent more news on the general
\ntrends of specific industries and markets than semi-independent business
\nnewspaper articles. Furthermore, big state-owned newspapers tend to increase
\ntheir coverage on industry and market news on days when the central government
\nannounces new industrial economic policies.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nearthquake experience also spent significantly more on house cleaning services.
\nProf. Lien and her co-authors think that this is another example of how
\npost-earthquake families tend to value more of their own time and focus more on
\nimproving their current quality of life.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nexpenditure between families which experienced an earthquake and those which
\ndid not, is on education. Families that experienced a major earthquake spent
\nless on almost all types of education, including children’s education away from
\nhome (such as public boarding school), tutoring and training. Specifically, the
\nmagnitude of the difference between spending on educating children away from
\nthe home by families which experienced an earthquake versus those who did not
\nwas as high as 3 percent of total household expenditure. Adult education, which
\nis typically more focused in the present than educational expenditures on
\nchildren, is the only type of education that families with earthquake
\nexperience spent relatively more on.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nthe future. It is probably not in long-term interest of any type of household,
\nlet alone those who survived an earthquake, to borrow from the future to spend
\nin the present. It’s another example how the altered spending habits of people
\nwho’ve survived natural disasters like earthquakes could potentially be harmful
\nin the long-run,” Prof. Lien comments.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\ngurus have focused on investigating how people spend money according to their
\nlong-term interests, this new research study took a different approach by
\nexamining how uncontrollable life events, such as earthquakes, can affect
\npeople’s lifestyle choices that may conflict with their long-term interests.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\ncould investigate the effect of earthquakes on consumption preferences in
\ndeveloped countries. It would be interesting to see whether there is a similar
\neffect in a different demographic setting and whether other types of disasters
\nwould create a similar effect on people’s consumption patterns.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nfirst-hand is different from merely knowing about earthquakes. People who have
\npersonally lived through such an event may develop a strong belief that another
\nmay happen again soon. This makes them treasure what they have and seize the
\nday,” Prof. Lien says. “Future studies can investigate if there is
\nsomething special about earthquakes in particular that would alter people’s
\nlife choices, or whether similar effects also hold for other kinds of events
\nthat are out of our control.”<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nMajor Earthquake Experience and Presently-Gratifying Expenditures (July 22,
\n2020). Available at SSRN: https:\/\/ssrn.com\/abstract=3794466<\/a> or http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.2139\/ssrn.3794466<\/a><\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nBusiness Knowledge (CBK) website by CUHK Business School: https:\/\/bit.ly\/3A4YqlS<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"