Socio-economic status and inequalities in children's IQ and economic preferences

Arbeitspapier

This paper explores inequalities in IQ and economic preferences between children from high and low socio-economic status (SES) families. We document that children from high SES families are more intelligent, patient and altruistic, as well as less risk-seeking. To understand the underlying causes and mechanisms, we propose a framework of how parental investments as well as maternal IQ and economic preferences influence a child's IQ and preferences. Within this framework, we allow SES to influence both the level of parental time and parenting style investments, as well as the productivity of the investment process. Our results indicate that disparities in the level of parental investments hold substantial importance for SES gaps in economic preferences and, to a lesser extent, IQ. In light of the importance of IQ and preferences for behaviors and outcomes, our findings offer an explanation for social immobility

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Discussion Paper ; No. 166

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Design of Experiments: General ; Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: General‡ ; Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
• Subject: socio-economic status ; time preferences ; risk preferences ; altruism ; experiments with children ; origins of preferences ; human capital

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Falk, Armin ; Kosse, Fabian ; Dovern-Pinger, Pia Rosina ; Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah ; Deckers, Thomas
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München und Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Collaborative Research Center Transregio 190 - Rationality and Competition
• (where): München und Berlin
• (when): 2019

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/208066
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET