This paper uses a new data set to study the choice of living arrangements of some 3000 Massachusetts elderly between 1982 and 1986. The data have a number of unique features; they are longitudinal and combine detailed information on health with information on economic status and family relations. This paper considers the influence on living arrangements of alternative measures of health (subjective versus functional abilities versus diagnosed condition), incomes and marital status of parents, and the number and sexes of children. It also examines the extent to which changes in health and the death of a spouse trigger changes in living arrangements and how rapidly such changes occur. The main findings of the paper are: Functional ability indices are very good predictors of living arrangements. Subjective health reports are poor predictors of living arrangements. The probability of institutionalization declines rapidly with the income of the elderly. In the cases of the older old daughters are much more likely than sons to share living quarters. Living arrangements are fairly stable. When changes in living arrangements occur they are often triggered by changes in health status or the death of a spouse. When deterioration in health status or the death of a spouse leads to a change in living arrangements, such changes typically occur within a year of the triggering event.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
2787.
Length: Date of creation: Dec 1988 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2787
Note: AG Contact details of provider: Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A. Phone: 617-868-3900 Email: Web page: http://www.nber.org More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().
Related research
Keywords:
Other versions of this item:
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.:
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.)