Whorfian Economics

Keith Chen () and Nigel Fabb ()
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Keith Chen: University of California
Nigel Fabb: University of Strathclyde

Chapter Chapter 1 in The Palgrave Handbook of Economics and Language, 2026, pp 3-29 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract ‘Whorfian Economics’ proposes that elements of a language can influence a speaker’s economic behavior; it is developed from the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that the forms of a specific language can affect how its speakers think. We examine proposals relating to four elements of language which vary cross-linguistically: the classification of all nouns into distinct genders, the possibility of omitting first- and second-person pronouns, the use of irrealis (which may express uncertainty), and whether future events must be expressed in a distinct future form (future time reference). We suggest that in most cases, the complexity of the linguistic phenomena casts doubt on the Whorfian economic claims, but we also suggest that the most plausible of the causal effects hold for the future time reference distinction. This was Chen’s (2013) original Whorfian economic argument, a proposal that languages which do not require explicit marking of future events have speakers who feel ‘closer’ to the future, positively influencing their savings behavior. We also consider the use of bilingual speakers in Whorfian economics, where an individual’s choice between two languages may influence their thinking (or economic behavior) at that moment.

Keywords: Whorfian Economics; Sapir-Whorf hypothesis; Gender pronouns; Irrealis; Pragmatics; Linguistic influence on economic decisions; Bilingualism and behavior; Cultural and linguistic typologies; Experimental linguistics in economics; Future time reference (FTR) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-88240-1_1

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