Flavia Coda Moscarola (UPO & CCA)

Seminar series “CLOSER, but not quite” – “Intergenerational Transmission of Preferences and Parenting Behaviours”

Venue: Campus Luigi Einaudi

Recent literature has documented the transmission of intergenerational preferences from parents to children in a few countries and has revealed a potential role for parenting styles and behaviors in this transmission. Our research aims to determine whether specific parenting behaviors, such as sharing with children information about household financial decisions and involving children in these decisions, can mediate and strengthen the transmission of preferences from parents to children. In our study, we focus on parents with children aged 8-14 living in Italy. First, we assess their patience and risk aversion and how these traits influence their propensity to save. Then, we involve them in a treatment consisting of two short training sessions on effective parenting and basic economic principles, respectively. We conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to estimate the effect of the proposed treatment.