Parental Investments and Intra-Household Inequality in Child Human Capital: Evidence from a Survey Experiment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Giannola, Michele
• 署名单位: University of Naples Federico II; University of Naples Federico II; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/uead086
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 671-727
• 关键词: birth-order; sex composition; son preference; HEALTH; Heterogeneity; allocation; education; quantity; outcomes; QUALITY

摘要

Intra-household inequality explains 40% of child human capital variation in the developing world. I study how parents' investment contributes to this inequality. To mitigate the identification problem posed by observational data, I design a survey experiment with parents in India that allows me to identify beliefs about the human capital production function, preferences for inequality in outcomes and the role of resources. I find that investments are driven by efficiency considerations: as parents perceive investment and ability as complements, they invest more in higher-achieving children and more so when constrained. Simulations indicate that interventions have intra-household distributional impacts through parental responses.