How economics explains how we raise our kids, with Matthias Doepke

Parents everywhere want their children to be happy and do well. Yet how parents seek to achieve this ambition varies enormously.

For instance, American and Chinese parents are increasingly authoritative and authoritarian, whereas Scandinavian parents tend to be more permissive. Why?

My guest today is Matthias Doepke, author of Love, Money, and Parenting.

In his book, Matthias investigates how economic forces and growing inequality shape how parents raise their children.

From medieval times to the present, and from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden to China and Japan, Matthias Doepke and Fabrizio Zilibotti look at how economic incentives and constraints—such as money, knowledge, and time—influence parenting practices and what is considered good parenting in different countries.

Matthias is professor of economics at Northwestern University. I spoke to him from Barcelona, where he's currently spending a year on research.

Here's my conversation with Matthias Doepke, author of Love, Money, and Parenting, in episode 401 of Informed Choice Radio.