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Lifting the Burden: Formal Care of the Elderly and Labor Supply of Adult Children

Author

Listed:
  • Katrine V. Løken
  • Shelly Lundberg
  • Julie Riise

Abstract

We use a reform in the federal funding of care for the elderly in Norway to examine the effects of formal care expansion on the labor supply decisions of middle-aged children. We find a consistent and significant negative impact of formal care expansion on insured work absences for the adult daughters of single elderly parents. This effect is particularly strong for daughters with no siblings, who are also more likely to exceed earnings thresholds after the reform. We find no impacts of the reform on daughters’ mobility or parental health, and no effects on adult sons.

Suggested Citation

  • Katrine V. Løken & Shelly Lundberg & Julie Riise, 2017. "Lifting the Burden: Formal Care of the Elderly and Labor Supply of Adult Children," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 52(1), pages 247-271.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:52:y:2017:i:1:p:247-271
    Note: DOI: 10.3368/jhr.52.1.0614-6447R1
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    Cited by:

    1. Niimi, Yoko, 2021. "Juggling paid work and elderly care provision in Japan: Does a flexible work environment help family caregivers cope?," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Abrahamsen, Signe A. & Ginja, Rita & Riise, Julie, 2021. "School Health Programs: Education, Health, and Welfare Dependency of Young Adults," IZA Discussion Papers 14546, IZA Network @ LISER.
    3. Shen, Karen, 2024. "Who benefits from public financing of home-based long term care? Evidence from Medicaid," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    4. Rellstab, Sara & Bakx, Pieter & García-Gómez, Pilar & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2020. "The kids are alright - labour market effects of unexpected parental hospitalisations in the Netherlands," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    5. Amitabh Chandra & Courtney Coile & Corina Mommaerts, 2023. "What Can Economics Say about Alzheimer's Disease?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 61(2), pages 428-470, June.
    6. repec:ces:ceswps:_11128 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Wolfgang Frimmel & Martin Halla & Jörg Paetzold & Julia Schmieder, 2020. "Health of Elderly Parents, Their Children's Labor Supply, and the Role of Migrant Care Workers," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1902, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    8. Boxebeld, Sander & Mouter, Niek & Exel, Job van, 2025. "Trade-offs in long-term care for older people in an ageing society: A constrained portfolio choice experiment," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    9. Ofek-Shanny, Yuval & Strulov-Shlain, Avner & Zeltzer, Dan, 2025. "Impacts of home-care subsidies: Evidence from quasi-random assignment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    10. Geyer, Johannes & Haan, Peter & Teschner, Mia, 2025. "The impact of macroeconomic conditions on long-term care: Evidence on prices," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    11. Motegi, Hiroyuki, 2025. "Understanding social norms for women toward the elderly: Evidence from Japan," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    12. Spencer Bastani & Sebastian Koehne, 2024. "How Should Consumption Be Taxed?," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 80(3), pages 259-302.
    13. Chen, Yanran & Lyu, Youji, 2025. "Grandchild care and grandparents’ labor supply," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    14. Nishimura, Yoshinori & Oikawa, Masato, 2025. "Who has benefited from nursing home expansion in Japan?: The effects of government supply-side intervention," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    15. Wolfgang Frimmel & Martin Halla & Joerg Paetzold & Julia Schmieder, 2020. "Health of Elderly Parents, their Children's Labor Supply, and the Role of Migrant Care Workers," Economics working papers 2020-18, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    16. Huang, Feng & Ye, Haichun & Zhang, Jing, 2025. "Off the books, away from the market: Clan culture and female labor force participation," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    17. Ester Lazzari & Valeria Zurla, 2024. "The Effect of Parental Caregiving on the Fertility Expectations of Adult Children," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 40(1), pages 1-22, December.
    18. Abrahamsen, Signe A. & Grøtting, Maja Weemes, 2019. "Formal Care of the Elderly and Health Outcomes Among Adult Daughters," Working Papers in Economics 2/19, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    19. Signe A. Abrahamsen & Maja Weemes Grøtting, 2023. "Formal care of the elderly and health outcomes among adult daughters," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(2), pages 436-461, February.
    20. Andersland, Leroy, 2017. "A Universal Childcare Expansion, Quality, Starting Age, and School Performance," Working Papers in Economics 8/17, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    21. Lizardi, Eduardo & Fevang, Elisabeth & Kverndokk, Snorre & Roed, Knut, 2026. "Labor Supply when Parents are in Need of Care," IZA Discussion Papers 18508, IZA Network @ LISER.

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