SURVEILLANCE AND SELF- CONTROL

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cobb-Clark, Deborah A.; Dahmann, Sarah C.; Kamhoefer, Daniel A.; Schildberg-Hoerisch, Hannah
• 署名单位: University of Sydney; University of Queensland; ARC Centre of Excellence for Children & Families Over the Life Course; IZA Institute Labor Economics; University of Melbourne; Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf; Max Planck Society
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/uead111
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 1666-1682
• 关键词: socioeconomic-status; gender-differences; time-preferences; cumulative risk; adjustment; HEALTH; east; discipline; PSYCHOLOGY; context

摘要

This paper studies important determinants of adult self-control using population-representative data and exploiting Germany's division as quasi-experimental variation. We find that former East Germans have substantially more self-control than West Germans and provide evidence for government surveillance as a possible underlying mechanism. We thereby demonstrate that institutional factors can shape people's self-control. Moreover, we find that self-control increases linearly with age. In contrast to previous findings for children, there is no gender gap in adult self-control and family background does not predict self-control.