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Caring for dependent parents: Altruism, exchange or family norm?

The purpose of this paper is to test alternative models of long-term caring motives. We consider three main motives: pure altruism, exchange and family norm. Our database is the second wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) which allows linking almost perfectly and with complete information children and their parents’ characteristics. Comparing the empirical results to the theoretical models developed, it appears that, depending on the regions analyzed, long-term caring is driven by moderate altruism or by family norm, while Alessie et al. (De Economist 162(2):193–213, 2014), also using SHARE data, stress the importance of exchange motive in intergenerational transfers.

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Key Information

Type of Reference
Jour
Type of Work
Journal article
Publisher
Springer Nature
ISBN/ISSN
0933-1433
Publication Year
2017
Issue Number
3
Journal Titles
Journal of Population Economics
Volume Number
30
Start Page
835
End Page
873