Socio-Economic Status and Inequalities in Children's IQ and Economic Preferences

Thomas Deckers (), Armin Falk, Fabian Kosse, Pia Pinger and Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch ()
Additional contact information
Thomas Deckers: University of Bonn
Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch: Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods

No 11158, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper explores inequalities in IQ and economic preferences between children from high and low socio-economic status (SES) families. We document that children from high SES families are more intelligent, patient and altruistic, as well as less risk-seeking. To understand the underlying causes and mechanisms, we propose a framework of how parental investments as well as maternal IQ and economic preferences influence a child's IQ and preferences. Within this framework, we allow SES to influence both the level of parental time and parenting style investments, as well as the productivity of the investment process. Our results indicate that disparities in the level of parental investments hold substantial importance for SES gaps in economic preferences and, to a lesser extent, IQ. In light of the importance of IQ and preferences for behaviors and outcomes, our findings offer an explanation for social immobility.

Keywords: origins of preferences; experiments with children; altruism; risk preferences; time preferences; socio-economic status; human capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 D64 D81 D90 J13 J24 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 63 pages
Date: 2017-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (36)

Published - published in: Journal of Political Economy, 2021, 129 (9), 2504 -2545

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Related works:
Journal Article: Socioeconomic Status and Inequalities in Children’s IQ and Economic Preferences (2021)
Working Paper: Socio-Economic Status and Inequalities in Children's IQ and Economic Preferences (2019)
Working Paper: Socio-Economic Status and Inequalities in Children\'s IQ and Economic Preferences (2019)
Working Paper: Socio-Economic Status and Inequalities in Children's IQ and Economic Preferences (2017)
Working Paper: Socio-economic status and inequalities in children's IQ and economic preferences (2017)
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