Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Johannes Abeler
Author-Name-First: Johannes 
Author-Name-Last: Abeler
Author-Email: johannes.abeler@economics.ox.ac.uk
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, University of Oxford
Author-Name: Toke Reinholt Fosgaard
Author-Name-First: Toke Reinholt
Author-Name-Last: Fosgaard
Author-Email: tf@ifro.ku.dk
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Technology, Management and Economics, Technical University of Denmark
Author-Name: Lars Garn Hansen
Author-Name-First: Lars Garn
Author-Name-Last: Hansen
Author-Email: lgh@ifro.ku.dk
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen
Title: The effect of the social environment during childhood on preferences in adulthood
Abstract: Preferences are key for shaping decision-making, yet it remains an open question where preferences originate from. We investigate the causal effect of the childhood social environment on adults’ preferences. We utilize a natural experiment in Denmark, which randomized refugees to different neighbourhoods in the 1990s. We experimentally measure risk, time, and social preferences of adult refugees who were children at the time of arrival in Denmark. Using rich administrative register data on the entire Danish population we can measure a very broad range of aspects of the childhood social environment. We find that the randomly allocated childhood environment significantly affects adults’ preferences, in particular, patience.
Length: 46 pages
Creation-Date: 2023-10
File-URL: http://okonomi.foi.dk/workingpapers/WPpdf/WP2023/IFRO_WP_2023_03.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
Number: 2023/03
Classification-JEL: C90, D15, D64, D81, D90, J62
Keywords: Preference formation, natural experiment, register data
Handle: RePEc:foi:wpaper:2023_03