[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/biu/wpaper/2003-04.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Economic Growth and Endogenous Intergenerational Altruism

Author

Listed:
  • Hillel Rapoport

    (CREDPR, Department of Economics, Stanford University; CADRE; and Bar-Ilan University)

  • Jean-Pierre Vidal

    (European Central Bank)

Abstract
The recent literature on the endogenous formation of preferences has emphasized that while some preferences are more conducive to growth than others, economic growth also contributes to the formation of particular tastes (Becker, 1996). In this paper, we construct a neoclassical growth model where intergenerational altruism is endogenous and entails costly sacrifices on the part of parents to acquire such trait. While the acquisition of altruistic traits depends on the economic conditions, altruism determines the level of intergenerational bequests and ultimately the accumulation of physical capital and economic growth. We derive three main results from this general equilibrium framework. First, we show that individuals accumulate altruism in the long run whenever the ‘marginal degree of altruism’ is sufficiently high. Second, we find that the endogenous formation of altruism is more likely to occur at later stages of economic growth. Finally, we show that low interest rates are correlated with altruistic behavior; this is in contrast to previous research in a partial equilibrium framework (Mulligan, 1997).

Suggested Citation

  • Hillel Rapoport & Jean-Pierre Vidal, 2003. "Economic Growth and Endogenous Intergenerational Altruism," Working Papers 2003-04, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:biu:wpaper:2003-04
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.biu.ac.il/soc/ec/wp/4-03/4-03.pdf
    File Function: Working paper
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oded Galor & Omer Moav, 2002. "Natural Selection and the Origin of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1133-1191.
    2. Becker, Gary S, 1974. "A Theory of Social Interactions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1063-1093, Nov.-Dec..
    3. Duflo, Esther & Udry, Christopher R., 2003. "Intrahousehold Resource Allocation in Cote D'Ivoire: Social Norms, Separate Accounts and Consumption Choices," Center Discussion Papers 28404, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    4. Michel, Philippe & Vidal, Jean-Pierre, 2003. "Self-control and savings," Working Paper Series 211, European Central Bank.
    5. Jellal, Mohamed & Wolff, Francois-Charles, 2002. "Cultural evolutionary altruism: theory and evidence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 241-262, June.
    6. Cremer, Helmuth & Pestieau, Pierre & Rochet, Jean-Charles, 2003. "Capital income taxation when inherited wealth is not observable," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(11), pages 2475-2490, October.
    7. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    8. Palacios-Huerta, Ignacio & Santos, Tano J., 2004. "A theory of markets, institutions, and endogenous preferences," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3-4), pages 601-627, March.
    9. Jere H. Behrman, 1976. "Economic Growth," NBER Chapters, in: Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: Chile, pages 268-292, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Alberto Bisin & Thierry Verdier, 2000. ""Beyond the Melting Pot": Cultural Transmission, Marriage, and the Evolution of Ethnic and Religious Traits," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 955-988.
    11. de la Croix, David & Michel, Philippe, 1997. "Altruism and self-refrain," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 1998010, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES), revised 00 Apr 1998.
    12. Duncan Thomas, 1990. "Intra-Household Resource Allocation: An Inferential Approach," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 25(4), pages 635-664.
    13. Samuel Bowles, 1998. "Endogenous Preferences: The Cultural Consequences of Markets and Other Economic Institutions," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 75-111, March.
    14. Gary S. Becker & Casey B. Mulligan, 1997. "The Endogenous Determination of Time Preference," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 729-758.
    15. Bisin, Alberto & Verdier, Thierry, 1998. "On the cultural transmission of preferences for social status," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 75-97, October.
    16. Galor, Oded, 2005. "From Stagnation to Growth: Unified Growth Theory," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 171-293, Elsevier.
    17. David N. Weil & Oded Galor, 2000. "Population, Technology, and Growth: From Malthusian Stagnation to the Demographic Transition and Beyond," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 806-828, September.
    18. Arleen Leibowitz, 2003. "In-Home Training and the Production of Children's Human Capital," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 1(4), pages 305-317, December.
    19. Michel, Philippe & Thibault, Emmanuel & Vidal, Jean-Pierre, 2006. "Intergenerational altruism and neoclassical growth models," Handbook on the Economics of Giving, Reciprocity and Altruism, in: S. Kolm & Jean Mercier Ythier (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 15, pages 1055-1106, Elsevier.
    20. Shelly J. Lundberg & Robert A. Pollak & Terence J. Wales, 1997. "Do Husbands and Wives Pool Their Resources? Evidence from the United Kingdom Child Benefit," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(3), pages 463-480.
    21. Marco Manacorda, 2006. "Child Labor and the Labor Supply of Other Household Members: Evidence from 1920 America," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1788-1801, December.
    22. Jane Humphries, 2003. "Child Labor: Lessons from the Historical Experience of Today's Industrial Economies," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 175-196, December.
    23. Jere R. Behrman & Andrew D. Foster & Mark R. Rosenzweig & Prem Vashishtha, 1999. "Women's Schooling, Home Teaching, and Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(4), pages 682-714, August.
    24. Malathy, R., 1992. "Education, and Women's Time Allocation to Non-Market Work in an Urban Setting of India," Papers 683, Yale - Economic Growth Center.
    25. Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1988. "A Theory of Rational Addiction," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 675-700, August.
    26. David De La Croix & Philippe Michel, 2001. "Altruism and Self-Restraint," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 63-64, pages 233-259.
    27. Elise s. Brezis, 2002. "Fertility, Non-Altruism and Economic Growth: Industrialization in the Nineteenth Century," Working Papers 2002-14, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.
    28. Suzanne Bianchi, 2000. "Maternal employment and time with children: Dramatic change or surprising continuity?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 37(4), pages 401-414, November.
    29. Parsons, Donald O & Goldin, Claudia, 1989. "Parental Altruism and Self-Interest: Child Labor among Late Nineteenth-Century American Families," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 27(4), pages 637-659, October.
    30. Costas Azariadis & Allan Drazen, 1990. "Threshold Externalities in Economic Development," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(2), pages 501-526.
    31. repec:adr:anecst:y:2001:i:63-64:p:12 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Guillaume Daudin & Raphaël Franck & Hillel Rapoport, 2019. "Can Internal Migration Foster the Convergence in Regional Fertility Rates? Evidence from 19th Century France," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(620), pages 1618-1692.
    2. Immordino, Giovanni & Padula, Mario, 2013. "Expropriation risk and discounting," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 145-156.
    3. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-01321952 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Oded Galor & Ömer Özak, 2016. "The Agricultural Origins of Time Preference," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(10), pages 3064-3103, October.
    5. Chen, Hung-Ju & Sultana, Rezina, 2013. "Job Reservation and Intergenerational Transmission of Preferences," MPRA Paper 45036, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Carlos Bethencourt & Lars Kunze, 2019. "Like Father, Like Son: Inheriting and Bequeathing," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 20(2), pages 194-216, May.
    7. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2015. "The endogenous formation of an environmental culture," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 200-221.
    8. Mauricio Armellini & Parantap Basu, 2010. "Altruism, Education Subsidy and Growth," EERI Research Paper Series EERI_RP_2010_21, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    9. Mrdjan Milićev Mladjan & Dušan Zvonkov Marković, 2021. "Generational Responsibility in Consumption as a Response to Global Economic Crises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-26, March.
    10. Guillaume Daudin & Raphaël Franck & Hillel Rapoport, 2016. "The cultural diffusion of the fertility transition: evidence from internal migration in 19 th century France," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01321952, HAL.
    11. repec:ipg:wpaper:13 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. repec:zbw:rwirep:0318 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Philipp Krug, 2022. "Optimal Estate Taxation: More (about) Heterogeneity across Dynasties," Working Papers 217, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    14. Kirill Borissov & Stefano Bosi & Thai Ha-Huy & Mikhail Pakhnin, 2023. "Heterogeneous bequests and social inequalities," Documents de recherche 23-05, Centre d'Études des Politiques Économiques (EPEE), Université d'Evry Val d'Essonne.
    15. Yakita, Akira, 2020. "Economic development and long-term care provision by families, markets and the state," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    16. Pierre Pestieau & Emmanuel Thibault, 2012. "Love thy children or money," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 50(1), pages 31-57, May.
    17. Lars Kunze, 2012. "Like Father, Like Son: Inheriting and Bequeathing," Ruhr Economic Papers 0318, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    18. Juan Mora & Ana Moro-Egido, 2012. "Analyzing motives for money-transfers within families: the role of transfers for education," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 357-378, August.
    19. Emmanuel Thibault, 2008. "Dynamic efficiency and intergenerational altruism," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(3), pages 679-687, July.
    20. repec:ipg:wpaper:2013-013 is not listed on IDEAS

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Galor, Oded & Michalopoulos, Stelios, 2006. "The Evolution of Entrepreneurial Spirit and the Process of Development," CEPR Discussion Papers 6022, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Galor, Oded & Michalopoulos, Stelios, 2012. "Evolution and the growth process: Natural selection of entrepreneurial traits," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 759-780.
    3. Oded Galor & Stelios Michalopoulos, 2006. "Darwinian Evolution of Entrepreneurial Spirit and the Process of Development," Working Papers 2006-12, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    4. Wolff, Francois-Charles & Laferrere, Anne, 2006. "Microeconomic models of family transfers," Handbook on the Economics of Giving, Reciprocity and Altruism, in: S. Kolm & Jean Mercier Ythier (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 13, pages 889-969, Elsevier.
    5. Galor, Oded & Klemp, Marc, 2014. "The Biocultural Origins of Human Capital Formation," IZA Discussion Papers 8433, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Galor, Oded & Klemp, Marc, 2013. "Be Fruitful and Multiply? Moderate Fecundity and Long-Run Reproductive Success," MPRA Paper 52049, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Alberto Bisin & Thierry Verdier, 2010. "The Economics of Cultural Transmission and Socialization," Post-Print halshs-00754788, HAL.
    8. Alogoskoufis, George & Malliaris, A.G. & Stengos, Thanasis, 2023. "The scope and methodology of economic and financial asymmetries," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    9. Oded Galor, 2010. "The 2008 Lawrence R. Klein Lecture-Comparative Economic Development: Insights From Unified Growth Theory," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 51(1), pages 1-44, February.
    10. Kota Ogasawara & Mizuki Komura, 2022. "Consequences of war: Japan’s demographic transition and the marriage market," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 1037-1069, July.
    11. Galor, Oded, 2007. "Multiple growth regimes - Insights from unified growth theory," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 470-475, September.
    12. Quamrul Ashraf & Oded Galor, 2011. "Cultural Diversity, Geographical Isolation, and the Origin of the Wealth of Nations," Department of Economics Working Papers 2011-15, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    13. Chakraborty, Shankha & Thompson, Jon C. & Yehoue, Etienne B., 2016. "The culture of entrepreneurship," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 288-317.
    14. David E Bloom & Michael Kuhn & Klaus Prettner, 2020. "The contribution of female health to economic development [The costs of missing the Millennium Development Goal on gender equity]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(630), pages 1650-1677.
    15. Almås, Ingvild & Somville, Vincent, 2020. "The effect of gender-targeted transfers: Experimental Evidence from India," CEPR Discussion Papers 15218, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Kourtellos, Andros & Tan, Chih Ming & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2007. "Is the relationship between aid and economic growth nonlinear?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 515-540, September.
    17. Steven J. Haider & Kathleen McGarry, 2005. "Recent Trends in Resource Sharing Among the Poor," NBER Working Papers 11612, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. André de Palma & Nathalie Picard & Robin Lindsey, 2024. "Activity and transportation decisions within households," Chapters, in: Stephane Hess & Andrew Daly (ed.), Handbook of Choice Modelling, chapter 16, pages 426-451, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Jacobs Martin, 2016. "Accounting for Changing Tastes: Approaches to Explaining Unstable Individual Preferences," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 67(2), pages 121-183, August.
    20. Matthias Doepke & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2008. "Occupational Choice and the Spirit of Capitalism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(2), pages 747-793.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Altruism; Economic Growth;

    JEL classification:

    • D19 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Other
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:biu:wpaper:2003-04. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Department of Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/debaril.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.