Intra-Household Transfers while Children Are still at Home

Joseph P. Price, Brigham Young University
Henry Tappen, Brigham Young University

Past research has focused on the degree to which bequests and inter-vivo transfers are allocated equally among an individual’s children. This research has largely ignored how resources are allocated among children who are still at home. We use data from the NLSY, American Times Use Survey, and Census PUMS, to look sibling differences in parent-child time and frequency of being read to (as time investments), and enrollment in a private school (as a money investment). We find that parents allocate time and money resources to each of their children equally about 60-70% of the time (providing evidence of an equity motive that is in line with measures of bequest behavior). We also explore some of the factors that influence families to deviate from an equitable allocation.