Socioeconomic differences in early childhood time preferences

Citation

Delaney L & Doyle OM (2012) Socioeconomic differences in early childhood time preferences. Journal of Economic Psychology, 33 (1), pp. 237-247. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?partnerID=yv4JPVwI&eid=2-s2.0-81055134792&md5=93e8c569ea14baa0f59b91d26739c92a; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2011.08.010

Abstract
This article examines the extent to which early childhood socioeconomic differences emerge in hyperactivity, impulsivity and persistence, all of which are psychometric analogues to how economists conceptualise time discounting. We control for a wide range of factors including parental investment and proxies for maternal time preferences. Our results show substantial social class variations across measures at age 3. We find weak evidence that these measures are predicted by differential maternal behaviours (e.g. savings behaviour, smoking) but relatively stronger evidence that these traits are transmitted through the parents' own non-cognitive skills (self-esteem, attachment) and parental time investments (time spent reading to the child and teaching the child to write, sing).

Keywords
Behavioural economics; Intertemporal choice

Journal
Journal of Economic Psychology: Volume 33, Issue 1