From the Maryland Population Research Center
"Individuals are sensitive to cues about economic conditions in ways that affect their beliefs and behavior. This paper experimentally tests how parents’ perceptions of children’s mobility prospects affect parental investments of time and money in child skill development. An experiment involving approximately 1,000 parents of children aged 5-17 aimed to shift parents’ beliefs regarding the possibility of future upward (downward) economic mobility in US society. We find that parents are responsive to signals about their children’s future economic mobility prospects. Using a novel measure of time investment, parents who are prompted to consider favorable prospects for their children increase their time investments to enhance their children’s skills and report being more willing to pay for resources to achieve this aim. These parents also strengthen their beliefs about the returns on parental investments, highlighting a plausible mechanism. Effects on beliefs and behavior are consistent across parents of varying income and educational levels."
Rebecca M. Ryan is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Georgetown University.
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