The role played by parental wealth in facilitating the life chances and living standards of offspring is a topic of growing interest in stratification research. For working and middle class households much of their intervivos transfers to children is provided in the form of assistance with a...

Through an investigation of parental motives, this paper examines how parents decide on the allocation of their resources within the family when there are several offspring. From a theoretical viewpoint, inter vivos transfers may be explained either by altruism or by an exchange motive. Though...