Strategic Interaction in Daughter-Son Care for an Elderly Parent
In Pursuit of Increased Student Engagement: Gamification, Introductory Macroeconomics, and The Amazing Race (Burke, Robak, & Stumph)
June 18, 2025Shrimply Irresistible – Sneaking economic content into a required general education course (Swinton)
July 23, 2025We represent the daughter-son interaction in providing care for an elderly parent as: (1) a coordination game or (2) a fair division problem. These formulations allow exploration of the possibilities for reshaping the social convention of assigning the primary responsibility for care to the daughter and provide ways to make economics relevant to the concerns of female students. The exploration introduces students to strategic moves (threats), issues of credibility, the value of cultivating a reputation before the challenge of providing care arises, and the relative merits of alternative fair division methods. The set-up costs for game theory teachers are modest.
by Alex Stevens and Lester A. Zeager
Stevens, A., & Zeager, L. (2025). Strategic Interaction in Daughter-Son Care for an Elderly Parent. Available online at Journal of Economics Teaching, DOI: 10.58311/jeconteach/591fd323a17ba9f2b2a9aeed5933682924a8c76b
Want to be notified of articles when they are released? Subscribe to our newsletter!