Does Having Children Affect Parents' Time Horizons? An Empirical Study Among UK Households

Abstract: It has long been assumed in economic literature that parents possess longer time horizons than do individuals without children. These time horizon differences are used to explain economical outcomes in various areas such as policy development and saving behavior. Using longitudinal data from UK households, we test the hypothesis that an individual's time horizon for decision making is lengthened with the event of becoming a parent. As a proxy for time horizons, we use a measure of the individual's climate change concern. Our findings show that, when controlling for individual heterogeneity, the effect of parenthood on climate change attitudes, and arguably time horizons, decreases to become small and insignificant.