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A House of Her Own: Old Age Assistance and the Living Arrangements of Older Nonmarried Women

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Author Info
Dora L. Costa

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Abstract

I show that the trend towards single households among older nonmarried women, the majority of whom were widows, has been ongoing only since 1940 and investigate the factors that fostered the rise in separate living quarters since mid-century by examining the impact of Old Age Assistance on living arrangements in 1940 and 1950. I find that Old Age Assistance substantially increased demand for separate living quarters, but that demand depended upon the rules of the program, in particular whether children were held legally responsible for the care of their aged parents. I argue that almost half of the decline in the fraction of older nonmarried women living with relatives from 1950 to 1990 can be attributed to rising Social Security benefits and expanded eligibility and to the fact that Social Security benefits were given with no strings attached.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 6217.

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Date of creation: Jun 1999
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:6217

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped
N12 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-

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  1. Kathleen McGarry & Robert F. Schoeni, 1998. "Social Security, Economic Growth, and the Rise in Independence of Elderly Widows in the 20th Century," NBER Working Papers 6511, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Eric Edmonds & Kristin Mammen & Douglas L. Miller, 2004. "Rearranging the Family? Income Support and Elderly Living Arrangements in a Low Income Country," NBER Working Papers 10306, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Stacy Dickert-Conlin & Cristian Meghea, 2004. "The Effect Of Social Security On Divorce And Remarriage Behavior," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College 2004-09, Center for Retirement Research. [Downloadable!]
  4. Andreea Balan-Cohen, 2008. "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise? The Impact of the Old Age Assistance Program on Elderly Mortality in the United States," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0719, Department of Economics, Tufts University. [Downloadable!]
  5. repec:cep:sticas:0104 is not listed on IDEAS
  6. Dora L. Costa, 2008. "The Rise of Retirement Among African Americans: Wealth and Social Security Effects," NBER Working Papers 14462, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Gary V. Engelhardt & Jonathan Gruber & Cynthia D. Perry, 2002. "Social Security and Elderly Living Arrangements," NBER Working Papers 8911, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Naoko Shinkai, 2000. "¿De qué manera la seguridad social y el ingreso repercuten en los arreglos de vida de los ancianos? Elementos de juicio de las reformas de México y Uruguay," RES Working Papers 4232, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  9. Cousins, Mel, 2005. "The impact of the introduction of social welfare schemes in Ireland, (1930s-1950s)," MPRA Paper 3490, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  10. Naoko Shinkai, 2000. "How Do Social Security and Income Affect the Living Arrangements of the Elderly? Evidence from Reforms in Mexico and Uruguay," RES Working Papers 4231, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  11. Leora Friedberg, 1998. "The Effect of Old Age Assistance on Retirement," NBER Working Papers 6548, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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