Economic and Intergenerational Decision-Making in Families

Abstract

This thesis studies economic decision-making and preferences within the family, household and close social environment. Within these social units, individuals often make decisions on the use and allocation of resources that involve multiple generations, such as educational investments, bequests or other transfers. The intergenerational nature of these choices implies a high relevance for public policy for both low- and high-income contexts, because it can shape important outcomes such as social mobility and inequality over time. In Chapter 1, I study strategic interactions between spouses when they invest in their children’s education and document the implications for school inputs and outcomes. Chapter 2 models and estimates multiple behavioral responses to an intergenerational wealth tax using the case of the Swedish inheritance taxation. In Chapter 3, we study distributional preferences in adolescent peer networks.