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A Moral Hazard Model of Parental Care

Author

Listed:
  • Baomin Dong

    (Henan University)

  • Tianpeng Zhou

    (Michigan State Univerisity)

Abstract

One perplexing observation is that although men and women have different comparative advantages, cooperation is often only seen during child-bearing and rearing periods. One interpretation is that the juvenile offspring serves as an indivisible public goods to facilitate cooperation between opposite sexes of adults. We show that moral hazard in maternal parental care will either force the father to pay the mother a rent in order to induce optimal care (when the child is of intrinsic high quality) or set the care level at second best (when the child is of intrinsic low quality). The implications of the model can be extended to many issues in the family economics such as increasing divorce rate, pros and cons of monogamy versus polygyny, and evolving gender roles in human society etc.

Suggested Citation

  • Baomin Dong & Tianpeng Zhou, 2013. "A Moral Hazard Model of Parental Care," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 207(4), pages 101-115, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:hpe:journl:y:2013:v:207:i:4:p:101-115
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pair Bonding; Moral Hazard; Parental Care.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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