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Endogenous division rules as a family constitution: strategic altruistic transfers and sibling competition

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  • Yang-Ming Chang
  • Zijun Luo

Abstract

Based on the notions of parental altruism, sibling competition, and family constitution, we present a self-enforcing model where heterogeneous children have economic incentives to supply family-specific merit goods (e.g., companionship) to their parents for securing inheritable wealth and the altruistic parents decide on division rules according to an optimizing behavior. In our analysis of intergenerational cooperation and intragenerational competition, the altruistic parents care about the efficiency of the children-provided merit goods and the equity of the children’s incomes. For an optimal allocation of wealth, the parents strategically partition it into two pools: one to be distributed equally whereas the other unequally according to their children’s supply of merit goods. We look at motivation of the parents in allocating their wealth to the two different pools. The analysis of endogenous division rules has implications for the compatibility between equal postmortem transfers and unequal inter vivos gifts, both of which are consistent with parental altruism. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Yang-Ming Chang & Zijun Luo, 2015. "Endogenous division rules as a family constitution: strategic altruistic transfers and sibling competition," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(1), pages 173-194, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:28:y:2015:i:1:p:173-194
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-013-0501-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Cigno, A., 2016. "Conflict and Cooperation Within the Family, and Between the State and the Family, in the Provision of Old-Age Security," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 609-660, Elsevier.
    2. Charles Yuji Horioka & Emin Gahramanov & Aziz Hayat & Xueli Tang, 2018. "Why Do Children Take Care Of Their Elderly Parents? Are The Japanese Any Different?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 59(1), pages 113-136, February.
    3. Justina Klimaviciute & Sergio Perelman & Pierre Pestieau & Jerome Schoenmaeckers, 2017. "Caring for dependent parents: Altruism, exchange or family norm?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 835-873, July.
    4. Alessandro Cigno & Mizuki Komura & Annalisa Luporini, 2017. "Self-enforcing family rules, marriage and the (non)neutrality of public intervention," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 805-834, July.
    5. Amy Farmer & Andrew W. Horowitz & Na Tan, 2020. "Sibling donation games: pure‐altruism, strategic‐altruism, and the interaction of familial and public transfers," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(2), pages 608-628, October.
    6. Oscar Erixson & Henry Ohlsson, 2019. "Estate division: equal sharing, exchange motives, and Cinderella effects," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 1437-1480, October.
    7. Akira Yakita, 2020. "Fertility decisions of families in an intergenerational exchange model," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 1447-1462, November.
    8. Yang Jiao & Zijun Luo, 2019. "A model of terrorism and counterterrorism with location choices," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 179(3), pages 301-313, June.
    9. Junya Hamaaki & Masahiro Hori & Keiko Murata, 2019. "The intra-family division of bequests and bequest motives: empirical evidence from a survey on Japanese households," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(1), pages 309-346, January.
    10. Yakita, Akira, 2020. "Economic development and long-term care provision by families, markets and the state," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    11. Martina Kirchberger, 2014. "Preferences over Leisure and Consumption of Siblings and Intra-Household Allocation," Economics Series Working Papers 713, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    12. Yakita, Akira, 2018. "Parents’ strategic transfers and sibling competition in the presence of pay-as-you-go pensions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 63-65.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Parental altruism; Endogenous division rules; Sibling competition; Family constitution; D1; D6; C7;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • C7 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory

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