The intriguing relation between parenting styles and eldercare

Simon Fan, Yu Pang and Pierre Pestieau
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Simon Fan: LU - Hong Kong - Lingnan University
Yu Pang: MUST - Macau University of Science and Technology
Pierre Pestieau: ULiège - Université de Liège = University of Liège = Universiteit van Luik = Universität Lüttich, UCLouvain - Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris

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Abstract: This paper analyzes the effect of longevity on parenting choices from a life course perspective. We develop an overlapping generations model to address a core tradeoff that young parents face when investing in their children's human capital. They can choose a low-time-cost demanding strategy that risks straining intergenerational relations or a time-intensive pedagogical method that fosters familial bonds at the cost of reduced parental income. Aging parents value attention of their adult children, who uphold the eldercare norm while bringing the shared history of their relationship into the caregiving environment. The rising future need for eldercare heightens the value of pedagogical effort for building relational capital and reveals parental demandingness as counterproductive. Our analysis suggests that longer life expectancy reduces the prevalence of authoritarian parenting practices, while higher income promotes greater pedagogical effort. We characterize the steady states of parenting styles and human capital and then examine their dynamic responses to changes in longevity and eldercare time.

Date: 2026
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Published in Review of Economics of the Household, inPress, ⟨10.1007/s11150-025-09825-x⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-05659435

DOI: 10.1007/s11150-025-09825-x

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