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The Marginal Propensity to Spend on Adult Children

Author

Listed:
  • Altonji Joseph G

    (Yale University)

  • Villanueva Ernesto

    (Bank of Spain)

Abstract

We use mortality rates and age specific estimates of the response of transfers and wealth to lifetime resources to estimate how much of an extra dollar of parental lifetime resources will ultimately be passed on to adult children in the form of inter vivos transfers and bequests. We find that parents pass on between 2 and 3 cents of an extra dollar of expected lifetime resources in bequests and about 3 cents in transfers, which together amount to about one fifth of our rough estimate of the marginal propensity to spend on children under 18 and on college. The value of .4 relating earnings of the child to earnings of the parent rises to about .46 when the effect of parental earnings on bequests and transfers is added on, although the estimate is lower for nonwhites and varies with assumptions about the intergenerational earnings correlation and the number of children.

Suggested Citation

  • Altonji Joseph G & Villanueva Ernesto, 2007. "The Marginal Propensity to Spend on Adult Children," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-52, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:7:y:2007:i:1:n:14
    DOI: 10.2202/1935-1682.1488
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    Cited by:

    1. Francisco Alvarez-Cuadrado & Ngo Van Long, 2012. "Envy and Inequality," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(3), pages 949-973, September.
    2. Mariacristina De Nardi & Giulio Fella, 2017. "Saving and Wealth Inequality," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 26, pages 280-300, October.
    3. Alvarez-Cuadrado, Francisco & Van Long, Ngo, 2011. "The relative income hypothesis," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 1489-1501, September.
    4. Marcin Kawiński, 2015. "Przegląd teorii finansów gospodarstw domowych w kontekście współczesnych uwarunkowań polityki publiczne," Studia z Polityki Publicznej / Public Policy Studies, Warsaw School of Economics, vol. 2(1), pages 1-19.
    5. Kirill Borissov & Andrei Kalk, 2024. "Social security, bequests, and social comparisons," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 26(3), June.
    6. Cagetti, Marco & De Nardi, Mariacristina, 2008. "Wealth Inequality: Data And Models," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(S2), pages 285-313, September.
    7. Luigi Ventura & Charles Yuji Horioka, 2020. "The wealth decumulation behavior of the retired elderly in Italy: the importance of bequest motives and precautionary saving," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 575-597, September.
    8. Uta Bolt & Eric French & Jamie Hentall Maccuish & Cormac O’Dea, 2018. "Intergenerational Altruism and Transfers of Time and Money: A Life-cycle Perspective," Working Papers wp379, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    9. Frank Cowell & Dirk Van de gaer, 2025. "Condorcet Was Wrong, Pareto Was Right: Families, Inheritance and Inequality," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 27(2), April.
    10. Francisco Alvarez-Cuadrado & Ngo Van Long, 2008. "A Permanent Income Version of the Relative Income Hypothesis," CESifo Working Paper Series 2361, CESifo.
    11. Justine Hastings & Ebonya Washington, 2010. "The First of the Month Effect: Consumer Behavior and Store Responses," NBER Chapters, in: Income Taxation, Trans-Atlantic Public Economics Seminar (TAPES), pages 142-162, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Siha Lee & Kegon Teng Kok Tan, 2023. "Bequest Motives and the Social Security Notch," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 51, pages 888-914, December.
    13. Bianchi Suzanne, 2011. "Family Data and Research in the Health and Retirement Study," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 14(2), pages 1-15, April.
    14. Fang Yang, 2009. "Consumption over the Life Cycle: How Different is Housing?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 12(3), pages 423-443, July.
    15. Fang Yang, 2005. "Accounting for the heterogeneity in retirement wealth," Working Papers 638, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    16. Francisco Alvarez‐Cuadrado & Mayssun El‐Attar Vilalta, 2018. "Income Inequality and Saving," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 80(6), pages 1029-1061, December.
    17. Jessamyn Schaller & Chase Eck, 2019. "Adverse Life Events and Intergenerational Transfers," Upjohn Working Papers 19-309, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    18. Sule Alan & Kadir Atalay & Thomas F. Crossley, 2015. "Do the Rich Save More? Evidence from Canada," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 61(4), pages 739-758, December.
    19. Mariacristina De Nardi, 2015. "Quantitative Models of Wealth Inequality: A Survey," NBER Working Papers 21106, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Fang Yang, 2005. "Consumption Along the Life Cycle: How Different is Housing?," 2005 Meeting Papers 718, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    21. Jinkook Lee & Drystan Phillips, 2011. "Income and Poverty among Older Koreans Relative Contributions of and Relationship between Public and Family Transfers," Working Papers WR-852, RAND Corporation.
    22. Karen E. Dynan & Jonathan Skinner & Stephen P. Zeldes, 2004. "Do the Rich Save More?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(2), pages 397-444, April.
    23. Yang, Fang, 2013. "Social security reform with impure intergenerational altruism," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 52-67.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

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