Abstract/Summary

A controversy over “tiger parenting” was provoked by the book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” While the media and public often focus on its cultural implications and effectiveness in child-bearing, and economics literature focuses on the choice of parenting style with respect to economic conditions, this article takes a step further and examines the operation of parenting style by studying the economic implications related to a common method used by “tiger parents” in parenting their children: punishment. We argue that if parents employ punishment as an instrument to discipline their children to exert more effort in their human capital investment, the possibility of punishment should be increasing in children’s capability. We test this hypothesis by investigating the effect of children’s developmental delay or learning disabilities on the likelihood of parents punishing their children in case their academic results are below expectations, and find supportive evidence. Surprisingly, we find no evidence on parents being more kind to children with development deficiency.