I have been following some discussions about UNLV Professor Hoppe's having offended a gay undergraduate by suggesting that homosexuals tend to have a high time preference. This is supposed to be partially a function of childlessness. Parents are supposed to save more and plan for the future. It is unclear whether this assertion is predicated on the idea that having a child is an investment of sorts and indicative of a future orientation.
What if parenting is seen an act of present consumption and deferred childbearing is a manifestation of low time preference? Many parents are less able to save currently because they have to support their offspring in the here and now. It seems to me that, in industrialized society with child labor restrictions, children are usually on the receiving end of the intergenerational flow of wealth.
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