Who told Dear Economist that parents are more able negotiators than children?

Mr. Gill Harnsley, September 2, in sheer desperation over his young children’s behavior that drives him crazy and sometimes makes him spank them reaches out in what most probably he considers a last resource to an economist for advise and comfort. Dear Economist though, believing he is being consulted on a much earlier stage responds with the whole shebang about creating a rational financial incentive system where in an open cry market of stars and black marks their weekly allowances are to be decided.

Little does Dear Economist realize, perhaps he is not yet a father, that Mr. Harnsley’s problems are way beyond that stage and has much more to do with his children turning out to be more able negotiators than he, having already developed their own charts with immediate rewards that go from hugs to the screaming out of accusations such as, mommy, daddy spanked me!

At the end of the day, of course it is all an issue of negotiation but where does Dear Economist get the notion that the children are more hooked than their parents to immediate gratifications? Since he blurts out something about children’s high discount rate and short term horizons I must ask him to look around and see the many non-existent savings rates and fiscal deficits that are out there in the world of the parents, just to finance their current consumption.

Dear Economist child rearing immediate gratification spanking hugs allowances