Patience Cycles

Abstract

Evidence supports the notion that those who grow up to be patient dobetter than those who do not. Parents can inculcate the virtue of delayedgratiÂ…cation in their children by taking the right actions. We study a modelin which parents, for selÂ…sh reasons, invest resources to raise patient chil-dren. In the model, patience raises the marginal return to human capitalacquisition giving the patient young an incentive to spend more on theirown education at the expense of investment in their own progenyÂ’s patience.This dynamic generates intergenerational patience cycles.patience; delayed gratification; human capital