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. 2008 Apr 1;118(528):515-555.
doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2008.02132.x.

Games Parents and Adolescents Play: Risky Behaviors, Parental Reputation, and Strategic Transfers

Lingxin Hao  1 , V Joseph Hotz, Ginger Z Jin
Affiliations

Games Parents and Adolescents Play: Risky Behaviors, Parental Reputation, and Strategic Transfers

Lingxin Hao et al. Econ J (London). .

Abstract

This paper examines parental reputation formation in intra-familial interactions. In a repeated two-stage game, children decide whether to drop out of high school or daughters decide whether to have births as teens and parents then decide whether to provide support to their children beyond age 18. Drawing on Milgrom and Roberts (1982) and Kreps and Wilson (1982), we show that, under certain conditions, parents have the incentive to penalize older children for their adolescent risk-taking behaviours in order to dissuade their younger children from such behaviours when reaching adolescence. We find evidence in favour of this parental reputation model.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Decision Tree for Parents’ and Teen’s Decisions over (Teen’s) Risk Taking Behaviour
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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