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Like Father, Like Son: Social Network Externalities and Parent-Child Correlation in Behavior

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  • Antoni Calvó-Armengol
  • Matthew O. Jackson

Abstract

We build an overlapping generations model where an individual sees higher returns to adopting a behavior as many neighbors adopt the behavior. We show that overlap in the state of a parent and child's neighborhood can lead to correlation in parent-child behavior independent of any parent-child interaction. Increasing the sensitivity of individual decisions to the state of their social community leads to increased parent-child correlation and less efficient (more costly) behavior on average in the society. We show this model is distinguished from a direct parental influence model, in that it predicts increased generational effects, implying residual correlation between children and grandparents after including parental information. (JEL J12, J13, Z13)

Suggested Citation

  • Antoni Calvó-Armengol & Matthew O. Jackson, 2009. "Like Father, Like Son: Social Network Externalities and Parent-Child Correlation in Behavior," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 124-150, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:1:y:2009:i:1:p:124-50
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/mic.1.1.124
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Bervoets, Sebastian & Zenou, Yves, 2017. "Intergenerational correlation and social interactions in education," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 13-30.
    3. Förster, Manuel & Grabisch, Michel & Rusinowska, Agnieszka, 2013. "Anonymous social influence," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 621-635.
    4. Grabisch, Michel & Rusinowska, Agnieszka, 2013. "A model of influence based on aggregation functions," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 316-330.
    5. Sebastian Bervoets & Antoni Calvó-Armengol & Yves Zenou, 2012. "The Role of Social Networks and Peer Effects in Education Transmission," Working Papers halshs-00793169, HAL.
    6. Matthew O. Jackson & Brian W. Rogers & Yves Zenou, 2017. "The Economic Consequences of Social-Network Structure," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(1), pages 49-95, March.
    7. Simon Burgess & Eleanor Sanderson & Marcela Umana-Aponte, 2011. "School ties: An analysis of homophily in an adolescent friendship network," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 11/267, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    8. Eiji Yamamura, 2014. "The effect of young children on their parents’ anime-viewing habits: evidence from Japanese microdata," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 38(4), pages 331-349, November.
    9. Alex Centeno, 2022. "A Structural Model for Detecting Communities in Networks," Papers 2209.08380, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2022.
    10. Abel FRANCOIS & Laurent WEILL & Nicolas EBER, 2022. "Economists are born and raised, not made," Working Papers of LaRGE Research Center 2022-07, Laboratoire de Recherche en Gestion et Economie (LaRGE), Université de Strasbourg.
    11. Norris, Jonathan, 2017. "Family and Peer Social Identity Effects on Schooling Attitudes and Performance," UNCG Economics Working Papers 17-1, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics.
    12. Dionissi Aliprantis & Daniel R. Carroll, 2018. "Neighborhood dynamics and the distribution of opportunity," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(1), pages 247-303, March.
    13. Manuel Förster & Michel Grabisch & Agnieszka Rusinowska, 2012. "Ordered Weighted Averaging in Social Networks," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 12056, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    14. Cosma Rohilla Shalizi & Andrew C. Thomas, 2011. "Homophily and Contagion Are Generically Confounded in Observational Social Network Studies," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 40(2), pages 211-239, May.
    15. Card. Johnson, Rutherford & Walker II, Eddie G., 2021. "Willingness to Pay for Recreational Land Use in Minnesota," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 9(1), January.
    16. Alexandra Avdeenko & Thomas Siedler, 2017. "Intergenerational Correlations of Extreme Right‐Wing Party Preferences and Attitudes toward Immigration," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(3), pages 768-800, July.
    17. Prosper Raynold, 2013. "Fellowship, social network externalities, and management of religious risk," Rationality and Society, , vol. 25(2), pages 229-260, May.
    18. Oosterlinck, Kim & Lacroix, Jean & Méon, Pierre-Guillaume, 2019. "A Positive Effect of Political Dynasties: the Case of France’s 1940 Enabling Act," CEPR Discussion Papers 13871, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Begoña Álvarez & Daniel Miles, 2009. "Building gender roles: Do children learn from their parents?," Working Papers 0906, Universidade de Vigo, Departamento de Economía Aplicada.
    20. Yamamura, Eiji, 2013. "Externality of young children on parents’ watching of anime: Evidence from Japanese micro data," MPRA Paper 46878, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Begoña Álvarez & Daniel Miles-Touya, 2012. "Exploring the relationship between parents’ and children’s housework time in Spain," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 299-318, June.
    22. Ning Pan & Yangfeng Guo & Jingwen Ma & Xiaoxuan Fan & Zhixin Yin & Xiaoyu Xu & Lei Cai & Yue Zhang & Xiuhong Li, 2021. "The Correlation between Chinese Written Vocabulary Size and Cognitive, Emotional and Behavioral Factors in Primary School Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-15, July.
    23. Joaquín, 2018. "Educación artística, elección de bachillerato y capacidades. Efecto de la creación del bachillerato artístico en la matrícula universitaria," Documentos de Investigación Estudiantil (students working papers) 18-03, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    24. Adriani, Fabrizio & Matheson, Jesse A. & Sonderegger, Silvia, 2018. "Teaching by example and induced beliefs in a model of cultural transmission," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 511-529.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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