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The effect of social entitlement programs on private transfers: new evidence of crowding out

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Abstract

This paper exploits a natural policy experiment to directly identify the crowding out effects of public transfers on the incidence and level of private transfers. The introduction of a large social security program in Taiwan is used to estimate the effect of an exogenous increase in government transfer payments to the elderly on the private transfer behavior of their adult children. Using an instrumental variables strategy that accounts for the endogeneity of receiving public transfers, the empirical results show strong evidence of crowding out on the extensive margin (the probability of providing a positive transfer) and weaker evidence of crowding out on the intensive margin (the amount of the transfer conditional on it being positive).

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  • Kristopher Gerardi & Yuping Tsai, 2010. "The effect of social entitlement programs on private transfers: new evidence of crowding out," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2010-15, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedawp:2010-15
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    2. Nikolov, Plamen & Adelman, Alan, 2019. "Do private household transfers to the elderly respond to public pension benefits? Evidence from rural China," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    3. 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).
    4. Grobon, Sébastien & Wolff, François-Charles, 2024. "Do public scholarships crowd out parental transfers? Evidence at the intensive margin from France," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    5. Achim Kemmerling & Michael Neugart, 2019. "Redistributive pensions in the developing world," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 702-726, May.
    6. Pelek, Selin & Polat, Sezgin, 2019. "Exploring inter-household transfers:An assessment using panel data from Turkey," GIAM Working Papers 00-0, Galatasaray University Economic Research Center.
    7. Kananurak, Papar & Sirisankanan, Aeggarchat, 2016. "Do Public Transfers Crowd-out Private Transfers? Evidence from the Thai Socio-Economic Panel Survey," Asian Journal of Applied Economics, Kasetsart University, Center for Applied Economics Research, vol. 23(2), December.
    8. Jing You & Miguel Niño‐Zarazúa, 2019. "The Intergenerational Impact of China's New Rural Pension Scheme," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 45(S1), pages 47-95, December.
    9. Neugart, Michael & Kemmerling, Achim, 2015. "The emergence of redistributive pensions in the developing world," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112884, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    10. Nakamura, Nobuyuki & Suzuki, Aya, 2022. "How Altruism Works during a Pandemic: Examining the Roles of Financial Support and Degrees of Individual Altruism on International Remittance," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322073, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Jing You & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, 2017. "Smoothing or strengthening the ‘Great Gatsby Curve’? The intergenerational impact of China’s New Rural Pension Scheme," WIDER Working Paper Series 199, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Jing You & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, 2017. "Smoothing or strengthening the 'Great Gatsby curve'?: The intergenerational impact of China's New Rural Pension Scheme," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-199, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Iwata, Shinichiro & Yukutake, Norifumi, 2013. "Housing subsidy or parental support: Crowding-out effect of mortgage tax deduction," MPRA Paper 46647, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Zengzeng Fan & Wei Zou, 2019. "Private Transfer Payments, Inequality, and Poverty: From the Perspective of Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-21, October.

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