Extraverted populations have lower savings rates

• Savings rates have reached an historic low in the United States.
• Among individuals, saving behavior is related to trait Extraversion.
• Cross-temporal savings rate declines were correlated with increases in U.S. Extraversion.
• More extraverted states in the U.S. were characterized by less household saving behavior.
• More extraverted countries displayed lower national savings.

Savings rates in the U.S. have reached an historic low, posing challenges to long-term economic well-being. Among individuals, impulsive spending is associated with preferences for immediate gratification, driven by a heightened sensitivity to immediate rewards. Three studies examined whether population levels of trait Extraversion, reflecting dispositional sensitivity to rewards, are associated with aggregate savings rates. In Study 1, cross-cohort increases in U.S. Extraversion, assessed from 16,846 individuals over 28 years, were associated with declining personal savings rates. In Study 2, regional variation in Extraversion as assessed from a sample of 619,397 participants was negatively associated with state-level household saving, although only Openness remained a significant predictor when all traits were simultaneously entered into a regression model. In Study 3, higher nationally-aggregated Extraversion predicted lower gross national savings in a global sample of 17,837 individuals from 53 nations.