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Parental Time and Material Investments in Rural Thailand

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  • Weerachart Kilenthong
  • Dinh Thi Ngoc Tu

Abstract

This paper studies the roles of family structure, wage and child's gender on parental time and material investments in rural Thailand. Our findings consistently show that female children received more time, but less material investments. The material investment was significantly lower for children in households with no parents, while the difference in time investment was not significant. Based on an economic model of parental investment, these results suggest the factor share of time relative to material input is larger for girls and households with no parents. We also identified the elasticity of substitution between time and material investments, which suggests that both of the inputs are surprisingly complementary. We cannot reject that the skill formation is a Cobb-Douglas production function.

Suggested Citation

  • Weerachart Kilenthong & Dinh Thi Ngoc Tu, 2017. "Parental Time and Material Investments in Rural Thailand," PIER Discussion Papers 68, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:pui:dpaper:68
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Parental Investment; Time Investment; Material Investment; Early Childhood Development; Family Structure; Skipped-generation Family; Child' s Gender; Elasticity of Substitution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - 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
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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