IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joecag/v23y2022ics2212828x22000275.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Next to kin: How children influence the residential mobility decisions of older adults

Author

Listed:
  • Begley, Jaclene
  • Chan, Sewin

Abstract

This paper explores the residential mobility of older adults, with a focus on the influence of distance to children on those decisions. Using the geocoded Health and Retirement Study, we statistically estimate the importance of adult child proximity on older adult moves after controlling for a host of other factors. We find that having adult children nearby is associated with a lower propensity to move, with closer proximity generally having a stronger negative relationship, up to a distance of 50 miles. These results are more pronounced if we define mobility as having moved at least 30 miles, or across metropolitan areas. We also show that the relationship is stronger for those with care needs, and for renters compared with homeowners. Results for the baby boomer cohort suggest that the proximity of children continues to have an important influence on older adult mobility among more recent cohorts of older adults.

Suggested Citation

  • Begley, Jaclene & Chan, Sewin, 2022. "Next to kin: How children influence the residential mobility decisions of older adults," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joecag:v:23:y:2022:i:c:s2212828x22000275
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2022.100394
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212828X22000275
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jeoa.2022.100394?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marois, Guillaume & Lord, Sébastien & Morency, Catherine, 2019. "A mixed logit model analysis of residential choices of the young-elderly in the Montreal metropolitan area," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 141-149.
    2. James Banks & Richard Blundell & Zoë Oldfield & James P. Smith, 2010. "Housing Price Volatility and Downsizing in Later Life," NBER Chapters, in: Research Findings in the Economics of Aging, pages 337-379, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Amy Spring & Elizabeth Ackert & Kyle Crowder & Scott J. South, 2017. "Influence of Proximity to Kin on Residential Mobility and Destination Choice: Examining Local Movers in Metropolitan Areas," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(4), pages 1277-1304, August.
    4. Jordan D. Matsudaira, 2016. "Economic conditions and the living arrangements of young adults: 1960 to 2011," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(1), pages 167-195, January.
    5. Anqi Chen & Alicia H. Munnell & Geoffrey T. Sanzenbacher, 2018. "How Much Income Do Retirees Actually Have? Evaluating the Evidence from Five National Datasets," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2018-14, Center for Retirement Research.
    6. Shan, Hui, 2010. "Property taxes and elderly mobility," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 194-205, March.
    7. Painter, Gary & Lee, KwanOk, 2009. "Housing tenure transitions of older households: Life cycle, demographic, and familial factors," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 749-760, November.
    8. Compton, Janice & Pollak, Robert A., 2014. "Family proximity, childcare, and women’s labor force attachment," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 72-90.
    9. Engelhardt, Gary V. & Greenhalgh-Stanley, Nadia, 2010. "Home health care and the housing and living arrangements of the elderly," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 226-238, March.
    10. Merril Silverstein, 1995. "Stability and change in temporal distance between the elderly and their children," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 32(1), pages 29-45, February.
    11. Büchel, Konstantin & Ehrlich, Maximilian V. & Puga, Diego & Viladecans-Marsal, Elisabet, 2020. "Calling from the outside: The role of networks in residential mobility," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    12. Jordan Matsudaira, 2016. "Economic conditions and the living arrangements of young adults: 1960 to 2011," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(1), pages 167-195, January.
    13. Charles F. Longino & Don E. Bradley & Eleanor P. Stoller & William H. Haas, 2008. "Predictors of Non-Local Moves Among Older Adults: A Prospective Study," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 63(1), pages 7-14.
    14. Sewin Chan & Ingrid Gould Ellen, 2017. "Housing for an Aging Population," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 167-192, March.
    15. Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 2004. "Aging and Housing Equity: Another Look," NBER Chapters, in: Perspectives on the Economics of Aging, pages 127-180, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Munnell, Alicia H. & Walters, Abigail N. & Belbase, Anek & Hou, Wenliang, 2020. "Are homeownership patterns stable enough to tap home equity?," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    17. Banzhaf, H. Spencer & Mickey, Ryan & Patrick, Carlianne, 2021. "Age-based property tax exemptions," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    18. Barrow, Lisa, 2002. "School choice through relocation: evidence from the Washington, D.C. area," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 155-189, November.
    19. HwaJung Choi & Robert Schoeni & Hongwei Xu & Adriana Reyes & Deena Thomas, 2021. "Proximity to mother over the life course in the United States: Overall patterns and racial differences," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(23), pages 769-806.
    20. Engelhardt, Gary V., 2008. "Social security and elderly homeownership," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 280-305, January.
    21. HwaJung Choi & Robert F. Schoeni & Kenneth M. Langa & Michele M. Heisler, 2015. "Spouse and Child Availability for Newly Disabled Older Adults: Socioeconomic Differences and Potential Role of Residential Proximity," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 70(3), pages 462-469.
    22. Schoeni, Robert F. & Cho, Tsai-Chin & Choi, HwaJung, 2022. "Close enough? Adult child-to-parent caregiving and residential proximity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    23. Anqi Chen & Alicia H. Munnell & Geoffrey T. Sanzenbacher, 2018. "How Much Income Do Retirees Actually Have?," Issues in Brief ib2018-20, Center for Retirement Research.
    24. Farnham, Martin & Sevak, Purvi, 2006. "State fiscal institutions and empty-nest migration: Are Tiebout voters hobbled?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(3), pages 407-427, February.
    25. James Banks & Richard Blundell & Zöe Oldfield & James P. Smith, 2012. "Housing Mobility and Downsizing at Older Ages in Britain and the USA," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 79(313), pages 1-26, January.
    26. Kwan Ok Lee & Gary Painter, 2014. "Housing Tenure Transitions of Older Households: What is the Role of Child Proximity?," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 42(1), pages 109-152, March.
    27. David A. Wise, 2004. "Perspectives on the Economics of Aging," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number wise04-1, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Costa-Font, Joan & Vilaplana-Prieto, Cristina, 2022. "Health shocks and housing downsizing: How persistent is ‘ageing in place’?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 490-508.
    2. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Siew Ling Yew & Thi Minh Thu Nguyen, 2022. "Health status and housing tenure decisions of older Australians," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(4), pages 966-989, December.
    3. Sumita, Kazuto & Nakazawa, Katsuyoshi & Kawase, Akihiro, 2021. "Long-term care facilities and migration of elderly households in an aged society: Empirical analysis based on micro data," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    4. Li, Lixing & Wu, Xiaoyu, 2019. "Housing price and intergenerational co-residence in urban China," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-1.
    5. Esteban Calvo & Kelly Haverstick & Natalia A. Zhivan, 2009. "Determinants and Consequences of Moving Decisions for Older Homeowners," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2009-16, Center for Retirement Research, revised Aug 2009.
    6. Collins, J. Michael & Hembre, Erik & Urban, Carly, 2020. "Exploring the rise of mortgage borrowing among older Americans," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    7. Fehr, Hans & Hofmann, Maurice, 2020. "Tenure choice, portfolio structure and long-term care – Optimal risk management in retirement," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    8. Kelly Haverstick & Natalia A. Zhivan, 2009. "Older Americans On The Go: How Often, Where, and Why?," Issues in Brief ib2009-9-18, Center for Retirement Research, revised Sep 2009.
    9. Ralph Stevens & Jennifer Alonso Garcia & Hazel Bateman & Arthur van Soest & Johan Bonekamp, 2022. "Saving preferences after retirement," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/342267, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    10. Daniel G. Lindberg, 2022. "The price elasticity of senior housing demand: is it a necessity or a luxury?," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 57(4), pages 204-216, October.
    11. Daichun Yi & Xiaoying Deng & Gang-Zhi Fan & Seow Eng Ong, 2018. "House Price and co-Residence with Older Parents: Evidence from China," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 502-533, October.
    12. Murray, Tim & Dunn, Richard A., 2022. "Household production, home improvement, and housing investment among older Americans," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    13. Wise, David Alsgaard & Poterba, James M. & Venti, Steven F., 2011. "The Drawdown of Personal Retirement Assets," Scholarly Articles 4677548, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    14. Maria Chiuri & Tullio Jappelli, 2010. "Do the elderly reduce housing equity? An international comparison," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(2), pages 643-663, March.
    15. Viola Angelini & Agar Brugiavini & Guglielmo Weber, 2014. "The dynamics of homeownership among the 50+ in Europe," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 797-823, July.
    16. Engelhardt, Gary V. & Greenhalgh-Stanley, Nadia, 2010. "Home health care and the housing and living arrangements of the elderly," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 226-238, March.
    17. French, Declan & McKillop, Donal & Sharma, Tripti, 2018. "What determines UK housing equity withdrawal in later life?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 143-154.
    18. Kwan Ok Lee & Gary Painter, 2014. "Housing Tenure Transitions of Older Households: What is the Role of Child Proximity?," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 42(1), pages 109-152, March.
    19. HwaJung Choi & Robert Schoeni & Hongwei Xu & Adriana Reyes & Deena Thomas, 2021. "Proximity to mother over the life course in the United States: Overall patterns and racial differences," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(23), pages 769-806.
    20. James M. Poterba & Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 2010. "Demographic Trends, Housing Equity, and the Financial Security of Future Retirees," NBER Chapters, in: Demography and the Economy, pages 227-287, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joecag:v:23:y:2022:i:c:s2212828x22000275. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-journal-of-the-economics-of-ageing .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.