Decision Making By Children

Shelly Lundberg, Jennifer Romich and Kwok Ping Tsang

No UWEC-2007-24, Working Papers from University of Washington, Department of Economics

Abstract: In this paper, we examine the determinants of decision-making power by children and young adolescents. Moving beyond previous economic models that treat children as goods consumed by adults rather than agents, we develop a noncooperative model of parental control of child behavior and child resistance. Using child reports of decision-making and psychological and cognitive measures from the NLSY79 Child Supplement, we examine the determinants of shared and sole decision-making in seven domains of child activity. We find that the determinants of sole decision-making by the child and shared decision-making with parents are quite distinct: sharing decisions appears to be a form of parental investment in child development rather than a simple stage in the transfer of authority. In addition, we find that indicators of child capability and preferences affect reports of decision-making authority in ways that suggest child demand for autonomy as well as parental discretion in determining these outcomes.

Date: 2007-07
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Related works:
Journal Article: Decision-making by children (2009)
Working Paper: Decision-Making by Children (2007)
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