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Parental Investment and the Intergenerational Transmission of Economic Preferences and Attitudes

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Zumbuehl
  • Thomas Dohmen
  • Gerard Pfann
Abstract
We study empirically whether there is scope for parents to shape the economic preferences and attitudes of their children through purposeful investments. We exploit information on the risk and trust attitudes of parents and their children, as well as rich information about parental efforts in the upbringing of their children from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study. Our results show that parents who invest more in the upbringing of their children are more similar to them with respect to risk and trust attitudes and thus transmit their own attitudes more strongly. The results are robust to including variables on the relationship between children and parents, family size, and the parents' socioeconomic background.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Zumbuehl & Thomas Dohmen & Gerard Pfann, 2013. "Parental Investment and the Intergenerational Transmission of Economic Preferences and Attitudes," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 570, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp570
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    parental investments; risk preferences; trust; intergenerational transmission; cultural economics; family economics; social interactions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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