Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58911 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6026
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Other-regarding preferences are central for the ability to solve collective action problems and thus for society's welfare. We study how the formation of other-regarding preferences during childhood is related to parental background. Using binary-choice dictator games to classify subjects into other-regarding types, we find that children of less educated parents are less altruistic and more spiteful. This link is robust to controlling for a range of child, family, and peer characteristics, and is attenuated for smarter children. The results suggest that less educated parents are either less efficient to instill social norms or their children less able to acquire them.
Subjects: 
other-regarding preferences
altruism
spite
experiments with children
family background
education
JEL: 
C91
D03
D64
I24
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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