Two-sided Altruism and Level of Development

Abstract

Using 24 countries data on the estimated degrees of filial and parental altruism, we examine the relationship between the stages of economic development and degrees of altruism. We employ the ordinary least squares and two-stage least squares methods and generalized method of moments. We find that after controlling for macroeconomic, demographic, and institutional variables, developing countries are more filially altruistic than developed ones, whereas the latter are more parentally altruistic than the former.