Partial Insurance and Investments in Children

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Carneiro, Pedro; Ginja, Rita
• 署名单位: University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; University College London; Uppsala University
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12421
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: F66-F95
• 关键词: consumption inequality; parental education; income; IMPACT; shocks; time

摘要

This article studies the impact of permanent and transitory shocks to income on parental investments in children. We use panel data on family income and an index of investments in children, from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We find that there is partial insurance of parental investments against permanent income shocks but the magnitude of the estimated responses is small. We cannot reject the hypothesis of full insurance against temporary shocks. Another interpretation of our findings is that insurance possibilities are limited but the fact that skill is a non-separable function of parental investments over time results in small reactions of these investments to income shocks, especially at later ages.