>From my experience with 6 children in my house (one adopted at 8 years
old, two nieces than came in as teenagers) and having done foster care
with my wife who is a clinical social worker...your number 3 and 5 are
on the right track but....
I would highlight on the indirect consequences for children...adults can
tend to be less consistent with children than with adults. The
consequences of the market (whether that be obtaining toys for good
behavior or getting to go to the pool for keeping the room clean, etc)
is often not consistently applied. The child learns he/she can be a
free rider in these markets! They don't need to cooperate! This could
be tested and I think you will find in the social work area that it has
been tested. Consistency in parenting is critical. Treating the child
fair and applying the same rules across the board is critical.
This is related to number 5...I don't think it is harsher all the time,
but again more consistent.
Debacker wrote...which I don't agree with...
They may be included as explanations 1 and 3 on Bryan's list, but
maybe:
A) Children aren't aware of the benefits of trade (cooperation). Most
things they have are provided from their parent(s), and so they don't
see much benefit to cooperating with others.
B) Children know that trade gets them something, but their gain from
trade are not are great as adults. Children might not have much to
offer each other. Cooperating with another kid might get you another
friend, but cooperating with another adult might get you a job or other
tangible benefit. This could help explain why kids might disrespect
other kids, but might be polite in front of adults (in addition to being
taught "manners").
On A...in my house children understand the benefits of trade and they
understand cooperation runs two ways. They do not get what they want if
they don't cooperate. And we (my wife and I) will out play the child no
matter how long it takes since we do understand the long term effects of
children not thinking they have to cooperate. My children are by no
means perfect, but they are better than many of the adults I run into.
On B...children I think get more from trade than adults since they are
without means to support themselves. This is especially true in younger
kids...my teenagers have more resources. It is what value the adult
puts on the trade. Is the adult willing to give up near term items to
make a point? Too often I find the adult wants something just as bad
and thus when the child doesn't cooperate they just give in. Bad move!
Governance in the firm starts to break down and pretty soon the costs to
gain cooperation goes way up. Every transaction gets costly since the
rules are not consistent and penalties are not really known. More
supervision is required. My house (due mainly to my wife...the drill
sergeant in this firm) runs like a well oiled machine due mainly to the
high cost of non-cooperation and the consecutiveness of penalties to the
social group. Information on the losses due to non-cooperation are well
know in the Driessnack Firm! Yes they are free to participate or
not..but oh how great are the benefits for all when trade has low
transaction costs.
jdd
John D Driessnack
Professor, Defense Acquisition University
NE-Capital Campus, Faculty Department
Program Management and Leadership
703-805-4655 (DSN-655)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
FAX 703-805-9670
Why are adults so much more cooperative than children? A contrarian
might dispute this, but I'd say it's pretty obvious. Kids resort to
violence very quickly, adults very slowly. Kids go out of their way to
hurt other kids' feelings; adults try to avoid saying anything that
might get back to someone they don't like. Kids steal stuff from other
kids much more readily than adults would. Etc.
A few explanations:
1. Adults have a much higher absolute IQ than kids (i.e., kids' IQs are
age-adjusted, adults' IQs are not), so they are smart enough to
recognize the indirect effects of their behavior.
2. Adults have lower time preference than kids.
3. Adults have had more time to learn about indirect consequences.
4. Adults are just less spiteful.
5. Adults face harsher punishment.
6. The child and adult worlds are in two very different coordination
equilibria. Notice how drastically the 12th-grade high school culture
differs from the 1st-year college culture.
Other ideas?
--
Prof. Bryan Caplan
Department of Economics George Mason University
http://www.bcaplan.com [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"He wrote a letter, but did not post it because he felt that no one
would have understood what he wanted to say, and besides it was not
necessary that anyone but himself should understand it."
Leo Tolstoy, *The Cossacks*
