Parental Priorities

and Economic Inequality

by Casey B. Mulligan

Table of Contents (Detailed Table of Contents also available)

Click on a chapter title for an abstract.

Acknowledgements (including some nice pictures!)

Part I: Modeling Altruism and Intergenerational Mobility

Chapter I The Argument for Parental Priorities
Chapter II Indifference Curve Diagrams as Models of Parental Priorities
Chapter III Two Models of Opportunity and Intergenerational Mobility
Chapter IV How Altruism is Influenced by Economic Status
Chapter V Taxation and Intergenerational Mobility in the Three Models

Part II: Empirical Arguments for Modeling Altruism

Chapter VI The Evolution of Economic Inequality in the U.S.
Chapter VII The Intergenerational Dynamics of Consumption, Earnings, and Wealth
Chapter VIII Borrowing Constraints and the Persistence of Inequality

Part III: Arguments from Other Disciplines

Chapter IX Classical Discussions of Altruism and Savings Behavior
Chapter X The Biological Origins of Altruism

Part IV: Other Applications of Endogenous Altruism

Chapter XI Intergenerational Altruism and Inequality within the Family
Chapter XII Altruism and Charitable Giving
Chapter XIII Altruism and the Principal-Agent Problem
Chapter XIV Conclusions

© copyright 1996, Casey B. Mulligan.

Because I am preparing this book for the University of Chicago Press, I cannot distribute free and easily reproducible electronic copies.

You may purchase a copy on-line.