In more and more situations, artificially intelligent algorithms have to model humans' (social) preferences on whose behalf they increasingly make decisions. They can learn these preferences through the repeated observation of human behavior in social encounters. In such a context, do...

We estimate the effect of parental separation on the risk and trust attitudes of German adolescents using a large household survey dataset, which allows us to match respondents to their siblings and parents. Our results indicate that adolescents from separated families are less trusting but have...

This essay reviews the theory and empirics of intergenerational mobility. Our review draws on models and empirical analyses of classic and more recent work from both economics and sociology. We summarize models and the surrounding empirical evidence of two key sets of mechanisms: family factors...

We estimate the effect of parental separation on the risk and trust attitudes of German adolescents using a large household survey dataset, which allows us to match respondents to their siblings and parents. Our results indicate that adolescents from separated families are less trusting but have...

This paper develops a parsimonious model of incomplete credit and job markets in which family background helps children invest in education and land jobs. As some competent children lacking in social connections are shut out of good jobs, both their incentives and accessibility in investing in...

“The trustees of an endowed institution are the guardians of the future against the claims of the present.” –James Tobin, winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Economics. Tobin’s thoughtful admonition that endowment trustees should protect the spending power of the endowment for all time...

This paper examines the optimal allocation of risk across generations whose savings mix is subject to illiquidity in the form of uncertain trading costs. We use a stylized two-period OLG framework, where each generation makes a portfolio allocation decision for retirement, and show that...

Due to generous subsidies the increase in installed capacity of solar generation in the UK was greater than for onshore or offshore wind between 2010 and 2020. This study examines how this surge in new installations affected both capital and operating costs as recorded in company accounts. In...

Whether elite universities expand or limit upward mobility in the long run depends on how they shape the intergenerational transmission of educational and social outcomes. We combine five decades of linked data on social and educational trajectories for parents and children in Chile with a...