Are Singaporeans selfish, altruistic or dynastic?

Abstract

With increasing trend of an ageing population and life expectancy, supporting the elderly has become a worrying issue in Singapore. In a prosperous economy, it is important to find out the altruistic nature of parents by examining their ability to support themselves independently or to rely on their children by using bequest as leverage. In this study, we aim to investigate the model of household behavior applicable to Singapore, as well as the degree of altruism in Singapore by analyzing data on Singaporeans attitude towards bequest motives and bequest division. 300 face-to-face interviews are conducted island-wide for Singaporeans aged between 40 to 69 years old. The analysis suggests that the altruism model is the dominant and most applicable household behavioral model in Singapore. Our results suggest that income level is not a key explanatory variable to the level of altruism but in Singapore the prevalence of religion and culture is. Comparing Singapore’s data with Japan, India, China and the United States, we conclude that Singapore ranks in the middle, with Singaporeans being less altruistic than the United States and India, but more altruistic than China and Japan.