Impatience Among Preschool Children and Their Mothers

Abstract:     
Using experimental data of children and their mothers, this paper explores the intergenerational relationship of impatience. The child's impatience stems from a delay of gratification experiment. Mother's impatience has been assessed by a choice task where the mothers faced trade-offs between a smaller-sooner and a larger-later monetary reward with a delay of six or twelve months. The findings demonstrate an intergenerational relationship in short-run decision making. Controlling for mother's and child's characteristics the child's impatience at preschool age is significantly correlated with the six month maternal reservation interest rate.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 8

Keywords: time preferences, impatience, intergenerational transmission, field experiments

JEL Classification: C93, D03, D90

working papers series