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Parenting Style as an Investment in Human Development

Author

Listed:
  • Deborah A. Cobb-Clark

    (School of Economics, The University of Sydney; ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA))

  • Nicolas Salamanca

    (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne; ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course)

  • Anna Zhu

    (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne; ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course)

Abstract

We propose a household production function approach to human development that explicitly considers the role of parenting style in child rearing. Specifically, we model parenting style as an investment in human development that depends not only on inputs of time and market goods, but also on attention, i.e. cognitive effort. The model links socioeconomic disadvantage to parenting style and human development through the constraints that disadvantage places on cognitive capacity. We find empirical support for our model. We demonstrate that parenting style is a construct that is distinct from standard goods- and timeintensive parental investments and that effective parenting styles are negatively correlated with socioeconomic disadvantage. Moreover, parenting style is an important determinant of young adults’ human capital net of other parental investments.

Suggested Citation

  • Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Nicolas Salamanca & Anna Zhu, 2016. "Parenting Style as an Investment in Human Development," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2016n03, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    • Handle: RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2016n03
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Parenting style; cognitive load; locus of control; socioeconomic disadvantage; parental investments; human development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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