A grandparenthood gap in political attitudes? Family ties and attitudes on intertemporal redistribution

Many policy issues concern not only how we allocate societal resources today, but also how we distribute between present and future. Relations with younger family members could expand the time horizon through which societal challenges are perceived, giving more weight to future welfare. Still, whether and how family relations with younger generations matter for opinion on intertemporal redistribution issues has rarely been studied. This paper examines the relationship between family ties to children and grandchildren and willingness to bear short-term costs to ad-dress long-term issues, focusing on two policy areas: climate action and the longevity of welfare policies. Using novel survey data, including an exploratory survey experiment, collected among individuals aged 55 or older in Denmark (N = 2518), the study finds that ties to younger family members are related to a higher willingness to sacrifice for long-term solutions. While this relationship is observed in both policy areas in the observational study, the exploratory experimental analysis only finds this for climate policies. The paper contributes to the understanding of the relationship between family ties and political attitudes, providing insights into how emphasising familial roles can enhance the willingness to prioritise long-term societal issues.