Question

Would this example be Balanced Reciprocity or Generalized Reciprocity?

parents pay for (gift) their child's college education while expecting the child to reciprocate by doing well in school and graduating.

I am leaning more towards generalized reciprocity since the exchange involves a gift with no real time frame for pay back and the value of this return isn’t specified. However, the reason why I am not 100% sure is because in this example, the parent expects something more or less equal in return (which is balanced reciprocity).

Answer 1

You're right it's general because it's non-market and you immediately return something just as equal because you're graduating from school (hopefully a good one!) and moving on in life to attain successful lifestyle by aiming to get a good job.