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The Motives Of Intergenerational Transfer To The Elderly Parents In China: Consequences Of High Medical Expenditure

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  • Xiaoyu Wu
  • Lixing Li

Abstract

The support for the elderly is facing big challenges with the problem of population aging. Transfers from adult children could partly insure elderly parents against low income and high medical expenditure. There are two main motives for transfers in the literature, namely altruism and exchange. By using data from a new household survey of people aged 45 years and above in China, we estimate the transfer derivatives with the adjustment of medical expenditure in elderly parents' income. We find a large negative impact of adjusted income on transfers at the lower end of income distribution, which is consistent with the altruistic motive. Evidence on the exchange motive is found only for sons, but not for daughters. In addition, there is evidence on the ‘exchange‐for‐service’ motive, which interprets transfer as a payment to parents' family services, such as taking care of grandchildren. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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  • Xiaoyu Wu & Lixing Li, 2014. "The Motives Of Intergenerational Transfer To The Elderly Parents In China: Consequences Of High Medical Expenditure," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(6), pages 631-652, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:23:y:2014:i:6:p:631-652
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.2943
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    2. Murphy, Adrianna & Kowal, Paul & Albertini, Marco & Rechel, Bernd & Chatterji, Somnath & Hanson, Kara, 2018. "Family transfers and long-term care: An analysis of the WHO Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE)," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 195-201.
    3. Liu, Hong & Ma, Jinqiu & Zhao, Liqiu, 2023. "Public long-term care insurance and consumption of elderly households: Evidence from China," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
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    6. Lei, Lei & Wu, Fengyu & Xia, Yiming, 2023. "Child Gender and Subjective Well-being of Older Parents in China," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1229, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Oliveira, Jaqueline, 2016. "The value of children: Inter-generational support, fertility, and human capital," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 1-16.
    8. Zhu, Alex Yue Feng & Ku, Inhoe & Chan, Wai Sum & Chou, Kee Lee, 2023. "Social pension reform and poverty among older people in Hong Kong: Triple difference estimations," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    9. Hao-yu Hu & Wei Wang & Da-wei Feng & Hua-lei Yang & Zhong-kun Zhu, 2022. "Number of Children and Monetary Transfers to Elderly Parents in Rural China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 593-615, January.
    10. Huang, Xian & Wu, Bingxiao, 2020. "Impact of urban-rural health insurance integration on health care: Evidence from rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    11. Lei Lei & Fengyu Wu & Yiming Xia, 2023. "Child Gender and Subjective Well-Being of Older Parents in China," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(8), pages 2473-2497, December.
    12. Li, Xinheng & Zhong, Yixuan & Fu, Tao, 2024. "Financial support from children and older household cooking energy use in rural China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    13. Li, Lixing & Wu, Xiaoyu, 2019. "Housing price and intergenerational co-residence in urban China," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-1.
    14. Angelini, Viola & Costa-Font, Joan & Ozcan, Berkay, 2025. "Gifts that Bind," IZA Discussion Papers 17706, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Fan, Yi & Yi, Junjian & Yuan, Ye & Zhang, Junsen, 2018. "The glorified mothers of sons: Evidence from child sex composition and parental time allocation in rural China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 249-260.
    16. Simon Appleton & Jinying Huang & Xuyan Lou & Minghai Zhou, 2024. "Money and mental health: The impact of intergenerational transfers on elderly people in China," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(11), pages 2645-2670, November.
    17. Cheng, Yifan & Yu, Jianyu & Min, Shi & Wang, Xiaobing, 2024. "The effects of land titling on intergenerational transfers in rural China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 228-251.
    18. Miaoxi Zhao & Yanliu Lin & Huiqin Wang, 2022. "Locational Differences of Collective Land and Their Socioeconomic Effects on the Rural Elderly in China’s Pearl River Delta," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-16, April.
    19. Lu Wang & Yixiao Jiang & Zhaochen He, 2024. "A semiparametric alternative to the Heckman correction: application with left-censored data on parental transfers," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 66(4), pages 1847-1866, April.

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