IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/reveho/v7y2009i3p323-339.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Long-term care of the disabled elderly: do children increase caregiving by spouses?

Author

Listed:
  • Liliana Pezzin
  • Robert Pollak
  • Barbara Schone

Abstract

Do adult children affect the care elderly parents provide each other? We develop two models in which the anticipated behavior of adult children provides incentives for elderly parents to increase care for their disabled spouses. The "demonstration effect" postulates that adult children learn from a parent's example that family caregiving is appropriate behavior. The "punishment effect" postulates that adult children may punish parents who fail to provide spousal care by not providing future care for the nondisabled spouse when necessary. Thus, joint children act as a commitment mechanism, increasing the probability that elderly spouses will provide care for each other; stepchildren with weak attachments to their parents provide weaker incentives for spousal care than joint children. Using data from the HRS, we find evidence that spouses provide more care when they have children with strong parental attachment.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Liliana Pezzin & Robert Pollak & Barbara Schone, 2009. "Long-term care of the disabled elderly: do children increase caregiving by spouses?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 323-339, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:7:y:2009:i:3:p:323-339
    DOI: 10.1007/s11150-009-9057-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11150-009-9057-6
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11150-009-9057-6?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maxim Engers & Steven Stern, 2002. "Long-Term Care and Family Bargaining," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 43(1), pages 73-114, February.
    2. Carpenter, Jeffrey P., 2007. "Punishing free-riders: How group size affects mutual monitoring and the provision of public goods," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 31-51, July.
    3. Donald Cox & Oded Stark, 2007. "On the Demand for Grandchildren: Tied Transfers and the Demonstration Effect," Chapters, in: Luigino Bruni & Pier Luigi Porta (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Happiness, chapter 18, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. McGarry, K. & Schoeni, R.F., 1995. "Transfer Behavior With the Family: Results from the Asset and Health Dynamics Survey," Papers 95-09, RAND - Labor and Population Program.
    5. Lundberg, Shelly & Pollak, Robert A, 1994. "Noncooperative Bargaining Models of Marriage," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 132-137, May.
    6. Alessandro Cigno & Gianna Giannelli & Furio Rosati & Daniela Vuri, 2006. "Is there such a thing as a family constitution? A test based on credit rationing," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 183-204, September.
    7. Liliana E. Pezzin & Barbara Steinberg Schone, 1999. "Intergenerational Household Formation, Female Labor Supply and Informal Caregiving: A Bargaining Approach," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 34(3), pages 475-503.
    8. Tennille J. Checkovich & Steven Stern, 2002. "Shared Caregiving Responsibilities of Adult Siblings with Elderly Parents," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 37(3), pages 441-478.
    9. Liliana E. Pezzin & Robert A. Pollak & Barbara S. Schone, 2007. "Efficiency in Family Bargaining: Living Arrangements and Caregiving Decisions of Adult Children and Disabled Elderly Parents," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 53(1), pages 69-96, March.
    10. Liliana Pezzin & Barbara Schone, 1999. "Parental marital disruption and intergenerational transfers: An analysis of lone elderly parents and their children," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 36(3), pages 287-297, August.
    11. Cigno, Alessandro, 1993. "Intergenerational transfers without altruism : Family, market and state," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 505-518, November.
    12. Hiedemann, Bridget & Stern, Steven, 1999. "Strategic play among family members when making long-term care decisions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 29-57, September.
    13. Shelly Lundberg & Robert Pollak, 2003. "Efficiency in Marriage," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 1(3), pages 153-167, September.
    14. Stark,Oded, 1999. "Altruism and Beyond," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521663731.
    15. Pezzin, Liliana E & Schone, Barbara Steinberg, 1997. "The Allocation of Resources in Intergenerational Households: Adult Children and Their Elderly Parents," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 460-464, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cigno, A., 2016. "Conflict and Cooperation Within the Family, and Between the State and the Family, in the Provision of Old-Age Security," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 609-660, Elsevier.
    2. Pestieau, Pierre & Ponthiere, Gregory, 2016. "The public economics of long term care," CEPR Discussion Papers 11365, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Tongbo Deng & Yafan Fan & Mengdi Wu & Min Li, 2022. "Older People’s Long-Term Care Preferences in China: The Impact of Living with Grandchildren on Older People’s Willingness and Family Decisions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-18, September.
    4. Mónika López-Anuarbe, 2013. "Intergenerational transfers in long term care," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 235-258, June.
    5. Marie‐Louise Leroux & Gregory Ponthiere, 2020. "Nursing home choice, family bargaining, and optimal policy in a Hotelling economy," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(4), pages 899-932, August.
    6. Michelle Sovinsky & Steven Stern, 2016. "Dynamic modelling of long-term care decisions," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 463-488, June.
    7. Canta Chiara & Pestieau Pierre, 2013. "Long-Term Care Insurance and Family Norms," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 14(2), pages 401-428, April.
    8. Cheolsung Park, 2014. "Why do children transfer to their parents? Evidence from South Korea," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 461-485, September.
    9. Adriaan Kalwij & Giacomo Pasini & Mingqin Wu, 2014. "Home care for the elderly: the role of relatives, friends and neighbors," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 379-404, June.
    10. CREMER, Helmuth & PESTIEAU, Pierre & PONTHIERE, Grégory, 2012. "The economics of long-term care: a survey," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2012030, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    11. Michio Yuda & Jinkook Lee, 2016. "Effects of Informal Caregivers' Health on Care Recipients," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 67(2), pages 192-210, June.
    12. Pestieau, Pierre & Ponthiere, Gregory, 2016. "Long-term care and births timing," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 340-357.
    13. Alessandro Cigno & Mizuki Komura & Annalisa Luporini, 2017. "Self-enforcing family rules, marriage and the (non)neutrality of public intervention," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 805-834, July.
    14. Joanne W. Hsu & Robert Willis, 2013. "Dementia Risk and Financial Decision Making by Older Households: The Impact of Information," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(4), pages 340-377.
    15. Christine Ho, 2015. "Grandchild care, intergenerational transfers, and grandparents’ labor supply," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 359-384, June.
    16. Viola Angelini & Anne Laferrère, 2013. "Parental altruism and nest leaving in Europe: evidence from a retrospective survey," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 393-420, September.

    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. Liliana E. Pezzin & Robert A. Pollak & Barbara S. Schone, 2007. "Efficiency in Family Bargaining: Living Arrangements and Caregiving Decisions of Adult Children and Disabled Elderly Parents," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 53(1), pages 69-96, March.
    2. Michelle Sovinsky & Steven Stern, 2016. "Dynamic modelling of long-term care decisions," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 463-488, June.
    3. Miriam Marcén & José Molina, 2012. "Informal caring-time and caregiver satisfaction," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 13(6), pages 683-705, December.
    4. Bridget Hiedemann & Michelle Sovinsky & Steven Stern, 2018. "Will You Still Want Me Tomorrow?: The Dynamics of Families’ Long-Term Care Arrangements," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 53(3), pages 663-716.
    5. David C. Grabowski & Edward C. Norton & Courtney H. Van Houtven, 2012. "Informal Care," Chapters, in: Andrew M. Jones (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Health Economics, Second Edition, chapter 30, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Quitterie Roquebert & Roméo Fontaine & Agnès Gramain, 2016. "L'aide à un parent âgé, seul et dépendant : déterminants structurels et interactions," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 16030, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    7. Matteo Lippi Bruni & Cristina Ugolini, 2016. "Delegating home care for the elderly to external caregivers? An empirical study on Italian data," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 155-183, March.
    8. Norton, E.C., 2016. "Health and Long-Term Care," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 951-989, Elsevier.
    9. Donald Cox & Beth J. Soldo, 2004. "Motivation for Money and Care that Adult Children Provide for Parents: Evidence from "Point-Blank" Survey Questions," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College 2004-17, Center for Retirement Research.
    10. Wolff, François-Charles, 2006. "Les transferts ascendants au Bangladesh, une décision familiale?," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 82(1), pages 271-316, mars-juin.
    11. Meliyanni Johar & Shiko Maruyama, 2012. "Externality and Strategic Interaction in the Location Choice of Siblings under Altruism toward Parents," Working Papers 201201, ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR), Australian School of Business, University of New South Wales.
    12. Jellal, Mohamed & Wolff, Francois-Charles, 2002. "Cultural evolutionary altruism: theory and evidence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 241-262, June.
    13. Sandrine Juin, 2016. "Care for dependent elderly people : dealing with health and financing issues," Erudite Ph.D Dissertations, Erudite, number ph16-02 edited by Thomas Barnay, February.
    14. Shelly Lundberg & Robert A. Pollak, 2007. "The American Family and Family Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 3-26, Spring.
    15. Matteo Lippi Bruni & Cristina Ugolini, 2016. "Delegating home care for the elderly to external caregivers? An empirical study on Italian data," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 155-183, March.
    16. repec:dau:papers:123456789/13781 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Cigno, A., 2016. "Conflict and Cooperation Within the Family, and Between the State and the Family, in the Provision of Old-Age Security," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 609-660, Elsevier.
    18. Stark, Oded & Cukrowska-Torzewska, Ewa, 2018. "Gender differentiation in intergenerational care-giving and migration choices," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 118-134.
    19. Roméo Fontaine & Agnès Gramain & Jérôme Wittwer, 2009. "Providing care for an elderly parent: interactions among siblings?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(9), pages 1011-1029, September.
    20. Matteo Lippi Bruni & Cristina Ugolini, 2006. "Assistenza a domicilio e assistenza residenziale: politiche di intervento e analisi empirica," Rivista italiana degli economisti, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 241-268.
    21. Norma B. Coe & Courtney Harold Van Houtven, 2009. "Caring for mom and neglecting yourself? The health effects of caring for an elderly parent," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(9), pages 991-1010, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intergenerational transfers; Families; Long-term care; Disability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:kap:reveho:v:7:y:2009:i:3:p:323-339. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.