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Do Parents Help More their Less Well-Off Children? Evidence from a Sample of Migrants to France

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Author Info
Francois-Charles Wolff (Universite de Nantes)
Seymour Spilerman (Columbia University)
Claudine Attias-Donfut (CNAV)

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Abstract

Through an investigation of parental motives, this paper examines how parents decide on the allocation of their resources within the family when there are several offspring. From a theoretical viewpoint, inter vivos transfers may be explained either by altruism or by an exchange motive. Though unequal sharing is expected under both hypotheses, under altruism parents should direct their assistance to less well off children. Analogously, under an exchange motive we expect support to be channeled to children who live nearby their parents. We assess the relevance of the two transfer motives using the PRI survey, conducted in 2003, on a sample of immigrants living in France. Unequal sharing is frequently observed, and children are more likely to receive financial transfers when they are in poor circumstance, but not necessarily when living in proximity to parents. This is the case even after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity with fixed effects models. We also emphasize the role of cultural factors, especially religion, as determinants of the parental allocation among children.

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Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Microeconomics with number 0504001.

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Length: 30 pages
Date of creation: 02 Apr 2005
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Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpmi:0504001

Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 30
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Related research
Keywords: altruism exchange inter-vivos transfers intrahousehold allocation unequal sharing cultural effects

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism
J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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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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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. François-Charles Wolff & Ralitza Dimova, 2006. "How Do Migrants Care for Their Elderly Parents? Time, Money and Location," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Special Issues, Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 142(S (specia), pages 123-130, March. [Downloadable!]
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