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Not Playing Favorites: An Experiment on Parental Fairness Preferences

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  • James Berry
  • Rebecca Dizon-Ross
  • Maulik Jagnani

Abstract

We conduct a lab-in-the-field experiment to identify parents' preferences for investing in their children. The experiment exogenously varied the short-run returns to educational investments to identify how much parents care about maximizing total household earnings, minimizing cross-sibling inequality in "outcomes" (child-level earnings), and minimizing cross-sibling inequality in "inputs" (child-level investments). We show that while parents place some weight on maximizing earnings, they also display a strong preference for equality in inputs, forgoing roughly 40% of their potential earnings or 90% of a day’s wage to equalize inputs. We find no evidence that parents care about equalizing outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • James Berry & Rebecca Dizon-Ross & Maulik Jagnani, 2020. "Not Playing Favorites: An Experiment on Parental Fairness Preferences," NBER Working Papers 26732, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26732
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    Cited by:

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    2. Ranveig Falch, 2021. "How Do People Trade Off Resources Between Quick and Slow Learners?," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2021_04, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    3. Michele Giannola, 2022. "Parental investments and intra-household inequality in child human capital: evidence from a survey experiment," IFS Working Papers W22/54, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    4. Jack, B. Kelsey & McDermott, Kathryn & Sautmann, Anja, 2022. "Multiple price lists for willingness to pay elicitation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    5. Manasi Deshpande & Rebecca Dizon-Ross, 2023. "The (Lack of) Anticipatory Effects of the Social Safety Net on Human Capital Investment," NBER Working Papers 31512, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. David N. Figlio & Krzysztof Karbownik & Umut Özek, 2023. "Sibling Spillovers May Enhance the Efficacy of Targeted School Policies," NBER Working Papers 31406, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Houmark, Mikkel Aagaard, 2023. "First Among Equals? How Birth Order Shapes Child Development," MPRA Paper 119325, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Krzysztof Karbownik & Umut Özek, 2019. "Setting a good example? Examining sibling spillovers in education achievement using a regression discontinuity design," CESifo Working Paper Series 7531, CESifo.
    9. Kirchberger, Martina, 2020. "Intra-household allocation of time and money across siblings," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 361-377.
    10. Guilherme Lichand & Juliette Thibaud, 2020. "Parent-bias," ECON - Working Papers 369, Department of Economics - University of Zurich, revised Jun 2022.
    11. Orazio Attanasio & Sarah Cattan & Costas Meghir, 2021. "Early Childhood Development, Human Capital and Poverty," NBER Working Papers 29362, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Falch, Ranveig, 2022. "How do people trade off resources between quick and slow learners?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).

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    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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