Uncertain altruism and investment in children.
探讨父母对子女利他主义的不确定性如何影响其对子女人力资本的投资，发现若父母确信子女会提供部分支持，最优投资仍为有效水平；若不确定子女是否会回报，则投资会低于有效水平。
The authors discuss the concept of parental uncertainty about their childrens altruism and the consequences for investment in childrens human capital. In this paper we show that if parents are uncertain about their childrens altruism but are at least sure that they will receive some support from their children then the unique optimal investment is...the efficient one. Uncertainty over the exact level of the retirement gift does not alter the conclusion of the perfect-certainty case even when parents are risk-averse....Alternatively parents may not know enough about their childrens altruism to feel completely confident that some gift will be forthcoming regardless of the size of their investment. Under this assumption we show that the optimal investment must be less than the efficient amount. (EXCERPT)