Socio-economic status and inequalities in children's IQ and economic preferences

Thomas Deckers, Armin Falk, Fabian Kosse, Pia Pinger and Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch

No 274, DICE Discussion Papers from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE)

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 likely to be 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. The systematic variations in IQ and preferences by SES might offer an explanation for socio-economic disparities in economic decision-making and social immobility.

Keywords: socio-economic status; time preferences; risk preferences; altruism; experiments with children; origins of preferences; human capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 D64 D81 D90 J13 J24 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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)

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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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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:dicedp:274

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