We present an overlapping generations model with endogenous growth in which children inherit human capital and standard-of-living aspirations from the previous generation. Adults evaluate their own consumption with respect to a baseline-require- ment which depends on their parents ' past consumption. The interaction between these two intergenerational externalities leads to rich dynamics. First, starting with too high aspirations or with too low human capital will conduct the economy into a poverty trap. Second, the growth rate and the savings rate are characterized by oscillations. Third, a repelling cycle may delimit a basin of attraction around the balanced growth path: this may lead countries starting with too high human capital to a boom followed by an irreversible decline.