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Caregivers in the Family: Daughters, Sons and Social Norms

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  • Barigozzi, Francesca

    (University of Bologna)

  • Cremer, Helmuth

    (Toulouse School of Economics)

  • Roeder, Kerstin

    (University of Augsburg)

Abstract

Daughters are the principal caregivers of their dependent parents. In this paper, we study long-term care (LTC) choices by bargaining families with mixed- or same-gender siblings. LTC care can be provided either informally by children, or formally at home or in an institution. A social norm implies that daughters suffer a psychological cost when they provide less informal care than the average child. We show that the laissez-faire (LF) and the utilitarian first-best (FB) differ for two reasons. First, because informal care imposes a negative externality on daughters via the social norm, too much informal care is provided in LF. Second, the weights children and parents have in the family bargaining problem might differ in general from their weights in social welfare. We show that the FB allocation can be achieved through a system of subsidies on formal home and institutional care. Except when children and parents have equal bargaining weights these subsidies are gender-specific and reflect Pigouvian as well as "paternalistic" considerations.

Suggested Citation

  • Barigozzi, Francesca & Cremer, Helmuth & Roeder, Kerstin, 2017. "Caregivers in the Family: Daughters, Sons and Social Norms," IZA Discussion Papers 10862, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10862
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    Cited by:

    1. Chiara Canta & Helmuth Cremer, 2022. "Family Bargaining and the Gender Gap in Informal Care," CESifo Working Paper Series 9877, CESifo.
    2. repec:bla:annpce:v:89:y:2018:i:1:p:49-63 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Oscar Erixson & Henry Ohlsson, 2019. "Estate division: equal sharing, exchange motives, and Cinderella effects," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 1437-1480, October.
    4. Canta, Chiara & Cremer, Helmuth, 2019. "Long-term care policy with nonlinear strategic bequests," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 548-566.
    5. Yakita, Akira, 2023. "Elderly long-term care policy and sandwich caregivers’ time allocation between child-rearing and market labor," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    6. Eric Bonsang & Joan Costa-Font & Joan Costa-i-Font, 2023. "The “Demise of the Caregiving Daughter”? Gender Employment Gaps and the Use of Formal and Informal Care in Europe," CESifo Working Paper Series 10792, CESifo.
    7. Bonsang, Eric & Costa-Font, Joan, 2023. "The "Demise of the Caregiving Daughter"? Gender Employment Gaps and the Use of Formal and Informal Care in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 16615, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Bao, Te & Yuan, Yuemei & Luo, Weidong & Xu, Bin, 2024. "Unlucky to have brothers: Sibling sex composition and girls’ locus of control," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    9. Bergeot, Julien & Tenand, Marianne, 2023. "Does informal care delay nursing home entry? Evidence from Dutch linked survey and administrative data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    10. Yi-Fang Luo & Shu-Ching Yang & Shih-Chieh Hung & Kun-Yi Chou, 2022. "Exploring the Impacts of Preventative Health Behaviors with Respect to COVID-19: An Altruistic Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-14, June.
    11. Yakita, Akira, 2019. "Optimal long-term care policy in an intergenerational exchange setting," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(4), pages 321-328.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    daughters; formal and informal LTC; social norms; sons;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • I19 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Other

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