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Are more children better than one? Evidence from a lab experiment of decision making

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  • Li, Xun
  • Qiu, Yu

Abstract

This paper examines the impacts of siblings on people's social preference, risk attitude and time preference with a data set from a large-scale lab experiment. Employing the variation of fine rates under One-Child Policy for excess birth in different regions as instrument to address the endogeneity of whether having siblings, we find that sibling's role mainly focuses on shaping people's social preference that subjects with siblings demand less as responders in ultimatum game and behave more cooperatively in sequential prisoner's dilemma. This conclusion survives through several robustness checks. Our further result suggests that more sibling interactions and less parental expectations are two potential mechanisms through which siblings play a role in making people more prosocial. Our findings point to a positive externality along with Two-Child Policy which is widely neglected in both policy evaluation and relevant theory such as quantity-quality theory, and provide implications for the fertility policy such as the recent Three-Child Policy in China and beyond.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Xun & Qiu, Yu, 2021. "Are more children better than one? Evidence from a lab experiment of decision making," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:69:y:2021:i:c:s1043951x21000717
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2021.101653
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    Cited by:

    1. Yunsen Li & Yunlu Li & Gang Chen & Jing Yang, 2024. "Being an only child and children’s prosocial behaviors: evidence from rural China and the role of parenting styles," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. XIE Mingjia & YIN Ting & ZHANG Yi & OSHIO Takashi, 2022. "The Hidden Cost of Having More Children: The Impact of Fertility on the Elderly's Healthcare Utilization," Discussion papers 22033, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    3. Jia Yang & Wanlin Xie & Xunyi Lin & Hui Li, 2022. "Parenting Stress, Parent–Child Literacy Activities, and Pre-Schoolers’ Reading Interest: The Moderation Role of Child Number in Chinese Families," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-14, November.

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