Cultural Effects and Savings: Evidence from Immigrants to the United Arab Emirates

This study attempts to investigate the effects of cultural origin on the saving behaviour of immigrants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Using household survey data covering 3206 households, savings rates are found to be remarkably different across households from different countries/regions. Immigrants from developing countries appear to be uniform in terms of average household size, age, education and occupation. However, immigrants from Pakistan and India are found to have higher average savings rates than those from Arab countries, although they have relatively lower incomes. This suggests strong cultural effects on savings, a proposition that is generally supported by the econometric findings of this research.