Intergenerational human capital evolution, local public good preferences, and stratification

Abstract

This paper considers heterogeneities in preferences over the local public good, human capital formation, and residential locations as primary underlying forces of economic stratification in an endogenously growing economy. We construct a two-period overlapping-generations model with two regions and various forms of human capital externalities where altruistic agents determine intertemporal allocation of time, investment in a child's education and residential location. We fully characterize a balanced growth equilibrium with no migration across generations to elaborate on how changes in preference, human capital accumulation, production, and interregional commuting parameters may affect the equilibrium stratification outcome in the long run.