We study how fathers and mothers income satisfaction correlates with the income satisfaction of their sons and daughters, as well as with other economic and socio-demographic variables. We estimate these correlations using data on parents and children in households surveyed in the eight waves of...

This chapter reviews the theory of the voluntary public and private redistribution of wealth elaborated by economic analysis in the last forty years or so. The central object of the theory is altruistic gift-giving, construed as benevolent voluntary redistribution of income or wealth. The theory...

Using the inclusive fitness framework (Hamilton, 1964), this paper models family firms. The structure on altruism imposed by the inclusive fitness framework ensures that increasing kinship reduces monitoring efficiency. Nevertheless, when incentive alignment determines management compensation,...

There is continuing uncertainty about whether family firms have lower agency costs. This paper proposes that a combination of family ownership and altruism affects agency costs in family firms. To begin with, family ownership can reduce agency costs through better aligning the interests of...

This article refines the theory of economic agents’ motivations beyond the alternative between egoistic self-interest and a generic altruism. It addresses the potential weakness of ‘altruism’ theories that the number of ‘others’ claiming empathy and care is potentially infinite. It...

We propose a model of parental altruism in relation to children’s habit formation, as children are unaware of their developing habits while young and only become cognizant with age. We show that an altruistic mother (1) maintains the amount of income transferred to her child lower than the...

This paper addresses the question of whether our evolutionary history suggests that humans are likely to be individually selected selfish maximizers or group selected altruists. It surveys models from the literature of evolutionary biology in which groups are formed and dissolved and where the...

This paper analyses normative implications of relaxing the conventional welfare economics assumptions anthropocentrism and welfarism, i.e. that only human well-being counts intrinsically, combined with various types of non-selfish individual preferences. Social decision rules are derived for the...

We present a general equilibrium model where profit-maximizing firms and non-profit organizations coexist, and the people’s propensity to devote efforts to non-profit activities increases with the stock of social capital. In its turn, the formation of social capital is stimulated by an...

This paper shows that two societies differing because of the people’s initial propensity to devote time and efforts to non-profit activities may never converge. This lack of convergence is interpreted as the tendency of the cultural values and attitudes dominant in each society to perpetuate...