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Why Do Most Italian Young Men Live With Their Parents? Intergenerational Transfers and Household Structure

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Author Info
Manacorda, Marco
Moretti, Enrico

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Abstract

More than 80% of Italian men aged 18-30 live with their parents. We argue that one contributing factor to this remarkably high rate of cohabitation is parents’ tastes for co-residence. In order to investigate the role of parental preferences, we estimate the effect of exogenous changes in parental income on rates of cohabitation in Italy using SHIW micro-data from 1989 to 2000. The key econometric issue is the potential endogeneity of parental income. In order to identify a source of exogenous variation in parental income, we use changes in fathers’ retirement age induced by the 1992 reform of the Italian Social Security system as an instrumental variable for parental income. By raising retirement age, this reform forced some fathers to remain in the labour market longer than they would have otherwise, therefore raising their disposable income. We use a two-sample instrumental variable (TSIV) strategy. Our TSIV estimates indicate that a rise in parents’ income significantly raises the children’s propensity to live at home: a 10% increase in annual parental income results in approximately a 10% rise in the proportion of boys living with their parents. Although we cannot definitely rule out alternative interpretations, these results are consistent with our hypothesis that cohabitation is a normal good for Italian parents.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 5116.

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Date of creation: Jun 2005
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5116

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Related research
Keywords: family structure; living arrangements; two-sample IV;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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    Other versions:
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  8. Rosenzweig, Mark R & Wolpin, Kenneth I, 1993. "Intergenerational Support and the Life-Cycle Incomes of Young Men and Their Parents: Human Capital Investments, Coresidence, and Intergenerational Financial Transfers," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(1), pages 84-112, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. McElroy, Marjorie B, 1985. "The Joint Determination of Household Membership and Market Work: The Case of Young Men," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(3), pages 293-316, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Orazio P. Attanasio & Agar Brugiavini, 2003. "Social Security And Households' Saving," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 118(3), pages 1075-1119, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Joshua D. Angrist & Alan B. Krueger, 1990. "The Effect of Age at School Entry on Educational Attainment: An Application of Instrumental Variables with Moments from Two Samples," NBER Working Papers 3571, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Altonji, Joseph G & Hayashi, Fumio & Kotlikoff, Laurence J, 1997. "Parental Altruism and Inter Vivos Transfers: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1121-66, December.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Mario García-Ferreira & Ernesto Villanueva, 2007. "Employment risk and household formation: evidence from differences in firing costs," Banco de España Working Papers 0737, Banco de España. [Downloadable!]
  2. Maria Concetta Chiuri & Daniela Del Boca, 2008. "Household Membership Decisions of Adult Children: Does Gender and Institutions Matter?," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 75, Collegio Carlo Alberto. [Downloadable!]
  3. Chiuri, Maria Concetta & Del Boca, Daniela, 2008. "Household Membership Decisions of Adult Children," IZA Discussion Papers 3546, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  4. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark, 2008. "Leaving Home: What Economics Has to Say about the Living Arrangements of Young Australians," CEPR Discussion Papers 568, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Chiuri Maria Concetta & Del Boca Daniela, 2007. "Living arrangements in Europe: exploring gender differences and institutional characteristics," Department of Economics Working Papers 200709, University of Turin. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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