Why Parents Play Favorites: Explanations for Unequal Bequests / Audrey Light, Kathleen McGarry.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Light, Audrey.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

McGarry, Kathleen.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w9745.

NBER working paper series no. w9745

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Why Parents Play Favorites

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2003.

Summary:

Economists have invested a great deal of effort in trying to understand the motivation for family transfers, yet recent empirical work testing the seemingly appealing models of altruism and exchange has led to decidedly mixed results. A major stumbling block has been the lack of adequate data. We take a fresh look at the issue using responses to an innovative survey question that directly asks mother about the planned division of their estates. We find that both altruism and exchange are frequently offered as explanations of behavior and are of nearly equal importance. Furthermore, the explanations are consistent with observable characteristics of the mother, lending support to the validity of the question. We also find that among step or adopted families, genetic ties play an important role. Because motivating factors appear to differ across families the lack of a consensus among previous researchers about motives ought not to be surprising.

Notes:

Print version record

June 2003.