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Why Do Children Take Care of Their Elderly Parents? Are the Japanese Any Different?

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  • Charles Yuji Horioka
  • Emin Gahramanov
  • Aziz Hayat
  • Xueli Tang

Abstract

In this paper, we conduct a theoretical analysis of why individuals provide care and attention to their elderly parents using a two-period overlapping generations model with endogenous saving and a “contest success function” and test this model using micro data from a Japanese household survey, the Osaka University Preference Parameter Study. To summarize our main findings, we find that the Japanese are more likely to live with (or near) their elderly parents and/or to provide care and attention to them if they expect to receive a bequest from them, which constitutes strong support for the selfish bequest motive or the exchange motive (much stronger than in the United States), but we find that their caregiving behavior is also heavily influenced by the strength of their altruism toward their parents and social norms.

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  • Charles Yuji Horioka & Emin Gahramanov & Aziz Hayat & Xueli Tang, 2016. "Why Do Children Take Care of Their Elderly Parents? Are the Japanese Any Different?," ISER Discussion Paper 0970, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    • Handle: RePEc:dpr:wpaper:0970
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    Cited by:

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    2. Sanae Tashiro & Chu-Ping Lo, 2020. "When Social Norms Influence the Employment of Women: The Case of Japan," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 46(3), pages 460-482, June.
    3. Kim, Kyeongkuk & Lee, Sang-Hyop & Halliday, Timothy J., 2021. "Intra-familial transfers, son preference, and retirement behavior in South Korea," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    4. Mohd Khairy Kamarudin & Nasrul Hisyam Nor Muhamad & Abdul Hafiz Abdullah, 2018. "Parents’ transfer to children: Study on the impact of ‘Pindah Milik Tanah 1 Hari’ (Land transfer ownership in one-day) by the Malaysian Land Office," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 8(6), pages 520-529, June.
    5. Junya Hamaaki & Masahiro Hori & Keiko Murata, 2019. "The intra-family division of bequests and bequest motives: empirical evidence from a survey on Japanese households," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(1), pages 309-346, January.
    6. Mengyuan Zhou, 2019. "The Effect of the Source of Inheritance on Bequest Attitudes: Evidence from Japan," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2019-018, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.
    7. Diederich, Freya & König, Hans-Helmut & Brettschneider, Christian, 2021. "A longitudinal perspective on inter vivos transfers between children and their parents in need of long-term care," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    8. Yakita, Akira, 2020. "Economic development and long-term care provision by families, markets and the state," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    9. Horioka, Charles Yuji, 2020. "Does the Selfish Life-Cycle Model Apply in the Case of Japan?," AGI Working Paper Series 2020-04, Asian Growth Research Institute.
    10. Kim, Kyeongkuk & Lee, Sang-Hyop & Halliday, Timothy J., 2018. "The Betrayed Generation? Intra-Household Transfers and Retirement Behavior in South Korea," IZA Discussion Papers 11846, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Charles Yuji Horioka, 2021. "Is the selfish life-cycle model more applicable in Japan and, if so, why? A literature survey," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 157-187, March.
    12. Christine Ho, 2019. "Child’s gender, parental monetary investments and care of elderly parents in China," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 741-774, September.
    13. Charles Yuji Horioka, 2019. "Are The Japanese Unique? Evidence From Saving And Bequest Behavior," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 64(01), pages 5-22, March.
    14. Charles Yuji Horioka, 2016. "Are the Japanese Unique? Evidence from Household Saving and Bequest Behavior," ISER Discussion Paper 0973, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    15. Ryo Takahashi & Kenta Tanaka, 2021. "Social punishment for breaching restrictions during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(4), pages 1467-1482, October.
    16. Yuji Horioka, Charles & Gahramanov, Emin & Hayat, Aziz & Tang, Xueli, 2019. "The Impact of Bequest Motives on Retirement Behavior in Japan: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis," AGI Working Paper Series 2019-14, Asian Growth Research Institute.
    17. Sanna Nivakoski, 2019. "Does the exchange motive influence intergenerational transfers? Evidence from Ireland," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 1049-1079, September.
    18. Gahramanov Emin & Gaibulloev Khusrav & Younas Javed, 2019. "Parental Transfers, Intra-household Bargaining and Fertility Decision," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 1-17, January.
    19. 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.
    20. Yakita, Akira, 2019. "Optimal long-term care policy in an intergenerational exchange setting," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(4), pages 321-328.
    21. Amy Farmer & Andrew W. Horowitz & Na Tan, 2020. "Sibling donation games: pure‐altruism, strategic‐altruism, and the interaction of familial and public transfers," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(2), pages 608-628, October.
    22. Ryo Takahashi, 2022. "Gender differences in tolerance for women's opinions and the role of social norms," Working Papers 2123, Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics.
    23. Miyake, Atsushi & Shintani, Masaya & Yasuoka, Masaya, 2021. "Elderly Care and Informal Family Care," MPRA Paper 110126, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    24. Brunello, Giorgio & Yamamura, Eiji, 2021. "With a Little Help from My Mother. The Matrilineal Advantage in European Grand Parenting," IZA Discussion Papers 14379, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    25. Yakita, Akira, 2018. "Parents’ strategic transfers and sibling competition in the presence of pay-as-you-go pensions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 63-65.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

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