IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jopoec/v27y2014i2p447-471.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Parents’ economic support of young-adult children: do socioeconomic circumstances matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Deborah Cobb-Clark

    ()

  • Tue Gørgens

    ()

Abstract

We assess how the support parents provide to young adults as they leave school and begin working is related to their family’s socioeconomic circumstances. We do this using an innovative Australian data set which merges survey and administrative data. The survey data inform us about intergenerational co-residence and financial gifts and the administrative data about the family’s welfare receipt history. We find that disadvantaged young people are more likely to be economically independent of their parents than are their more advantaged peers. This disparity is larger for financial gifts than for co-residence and increases with age. Moreover, there is a complex relationship between parental support and participation in study and work. We find no evidence, however, that a lack of parental support is the source of the socioeconomic gradient in either studying or employment. These results are important in eliminating one potential pathway through which socioeconomic disadvantage limits young people’s outcomes. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Deborah Cobb-Clark & Tue Gørgens, 2014. "Parents’ economic support of young-adult children: do socioeconomic circumstances matter?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(2), pages 447-471, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:27:y:2014:i:2:p:447-471
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-013-0484-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s00148-013-0484-6
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    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. Schoeni, Robert F, 1997. "Private Interhousehold Transfers of Money and Time: New Empirical Evidence," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 43(4), pages 423-448, December.
    2. repec:fth:prinin:386 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark, 2008. "Leaving Home: What Economics Has to Say about the Living Arrangements of Young Australians," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 41(2), pages 160-176, June.
    4. Moshe Semyonov & Noah Lewin-Epstein, 2001. "The Impact of Parental Transfers on Living Standards of Married Children," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 115-137, May.
    5. Flavio Cunha & James J. Heckman & Susanne M. Schennach, 2010. "Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(3), pages 883-931, May.
    6. Maite Martínez-Granado & Javier Ruiz-Castillo, 2002. "The decisions of Spanish youth: A cross-section study," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(2), pages 305-330.
    7. Petra E. Todd & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 2007. "The Production of Cognitive Achievement in Children: Home, School, and Racial Test Score Gaps," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 91-136.
    8. Ermisch, John & Di Salvo, Pamela, 1997. "The Economic Determinants of Young People's Household Formation," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 64(256), pages 627-644, November.
    9. Lingxin Hao & V.Joseph Hotz & GingerZ. Jin, 2008. "Games Parents and Adolescents Play: Risky Behaviour, Parental Reputation and Strategic Transfers," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(528), pages 515-555, April.
    10. Guiso, Luigi & Jappelli, Tullio, 2002. "Private Transfers, Borrowing Constraints and the Timing of Homeownership," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 34(2), pages 315-339, May.
    11. Bernheim, B Douglas & Shleifer, Andrei & Summers, Lawrence H, 1986. "The Strategic Bequest Motive," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(3), pages 151-182, July.
    12. Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia, 2001. "Evidence on Youth Employment, Earnings, and Parental Transfers in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 36(4), pages 795-822.
    13. Christian Dustmann & John Micklewright & Arthur Soest, 2009. "In-school labour supply, parental transfers, and wages," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 201-218, September.
    14. Pollak, Robert A, 1988. "Tied Transfers and Paternalistic Preferences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(2), pages 240-244, May.
    15. 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.
    16. Greg Kaplan, 2012. "Moving Back Home: Insurance against Labor Market Risk," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 120(3), pages 446-512.
    17. Donald Cox, 1990. "Intergenerational Transfers and Liquidity Constraints," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 105(1), pages 187-217.
    18. Charlene Kalenkoski, 2008. "Parent-child bargaining, parental transfers, and the post-secondary education decision," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 413-436.
    19. Tao Gong, 2009. "Do Parental Transfers Reduce Youths' Incentives to Work?," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 23(4), pages 653-676, December.
    20. Shelly Lundberg & Jennifer Romich & Kwok Tsang, 2009. "Decision-making by children," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-30, March.
    21. David Blanc & François-Charles Wolff, 2006. "Leaving Home in Europe: The Role of Parents’ and Children’s Incomes," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 53-73, March.
    22. Ralitza Dimova & François-Charles Wolff, 2011. "Do downward private transfers enhance maternal labor supply? Evidence from around Europe," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(3), pages 911-933, July.
    23. Charlene Kalenkoski & Sabrina Pabilonia, 2010. "Parental transfers, student achievement, and the labor supply of college students," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(2), pages 469-496, March.
    24. Flavio Cunha & James J. Heckman, 2008. "Formulating, Identifying and Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    25. Cox, Donald, 1987. "Motives for Private Income Transfers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(3), pages 508-546, June.
    26. Petra E. Todd & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 2003. "On The Specification and Estimation of The Production Function for Cognitive Achievement," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages 3-33, February.
    27. François-Charles Wolff, 2006. "Parental transfers and the labor supply of children," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 19(4), pages 853-877, October.
    28. 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.
    29. Peter Kooreman, 2007. "Time, money, peers, and parents; some data and theories on teenage behavior," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 20(1), pages 9-33, February.
    30. Cox, Donald & Jakubson, George, 1995. "The connection between public transfers and private interfamily transfers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 129-167, May.
    31. Ermisch, John, 1999. "Prices, Parents, and Young People's Household Formation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 47-71, January.
    32. Keane, Michael P & Wolpin, Kenneth I, 2001. "The Effect of Parental Transfers and Borrowing Constraints on Educational Attainment," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 42(4), pages 1051-1103, November.
    33. Marco Manacorda & Enrico Moretti, 2006. "Why do Most Italian Youths Live with Their Parents? Intergenerational Transfers and Household Structure," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(4), pages 800-829, June.
    34. Bruce A. Weinberg, 2001. "An Incentive Model of the Effect of Parental Income on Children," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(2), pages 266-280, April.
    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. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Anna Zhu, 2017. "Childhood homelessness and adult employment: the role of education, incarceration, and welfare receipt," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 893-924, July.
    2. Despard, Mathieu R. & Perantie, Dana & Taylor, Samuel & Grinstein-Weiss, Michal & Friedline, Terri & Raghavan, Ramesh, 2016. "Student debt and hardship: Evidence from a large sample of low- and moderate-income households," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 8-18.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Co-residence; Financial gifts; Socioeconomic disadvantage; Youth outcomes; J12; J13; J22; J24;

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    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:spr:jopoec:v:27:y:2014:i:2:p:447-471. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Sonal Shukla) or (Rebekah McClure). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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 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.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.