Parental Mental Health and the Economic Preferences of the Next Generation

Alexander Bertermann and Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch

No 12441, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: This paper provides the first evidence that children’s economic preferences vary systematically with parental mental health. Using experimentally elicited measures of economic preferences from more than 4,500 children in Bangladesh, we document that children of parents with indications of mental illness are less prosocial but more patient than their peers with mentally healthy parents. Attitudes toward risk remain unchanged. We discuss potential pathways through which parental mental health may influence the formation of children’s preferences, documenting that children of parents with indication of mental illness assume greater responsibilities within the family, experience less parental involvement, and are exposed to a more adverse home environment.

Keywords: mental health; social preferences; risk preferences; patience; origins of preferences; experiments with children; Bangladesh (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D01 D10 I10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12441

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