Parenting with Style: Altruism and Paternalism in Intergenerational Preference Transmission

Matthias Doepke and Fabrizio Zilibotti

No 20214, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We develop a theory of parent-child relations that rationalizes the choice between alternative parenting styles (as set out in Baumrind 1967). Parents maximize an objective function that combines Beckerian altruism and paternalism towards children. They can affect their children’s choices via two channels: either by influencing children’s preferences or by imposing direct restrictions on their choice sets. Different parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive) emerge as equilibrium outcomes and are affected both by parental preferences and by the socioeconomic environment. Parenting style, in turn, feeds back into the children’s welfare and economic success. The theory is consistent with the decline of authoritarian parenting observed in industrialized countries and with the greater prevalence of more permissive parenting in countries characterized by low inequality.

JEL-codes: D10 J10 O10 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-evo, nep-gro and nep-soc
Note: CH DEV EFG
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (54)

Published as Matthias Doepke & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2017. "Parenting With Style: Altruism and Paternalism in Intergenerational Preference Transmission," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 85, pages 1331-1371, September.

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Related works:
Working Paper: Parenting with Style: Altruism and Paternalism in Intergenerational Preference Transmission (2014)
Working Paper: Parenting with Style: Altruism and Paternalism in Intergenerational Preference Transmission (2014)
Working Paper: Parenting with Style: Altruism and Paternalism in Intergenerational Preference Transmission (2014)
Working Paper: Parenting with Style: Altruism and Paternalism in Intergenerational Preference Transmission (2012)
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