How Does Household Income Affect Child Personality Traits and Behaviors?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Akee, Randall; Copeland, William; Costello, E. Jane; Simeonova, Emilia
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; Duke University; Johns Hopkins University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20160133
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 775-827
• 关键词: labor-market returns; family income; lottery prizes; LIFE CHANCES; HEALTH; poverty; TECHNOLOGY; STABILITY; ECONOMICS; IMPACT

摘要

We examine the effects of a quasi-experimental unconditional household income transfer on child emotional and behavioral health and personality traits. Using longitudinal data, we find that there are large beneficial effects on children's emotional and behavioral health and personality traits during adolescence. We find evidence that these effects are most pronounced for children who start out with the lowest initial endowments. The income intervention also results in improvements in parental relationships which we interpret as a potential mechanism behind our findings.