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The Patterns of Parental Intervivos Transfers to Adult Children

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  • Marla Ripoll

Abstract

Parental intervivos transfers to adult children occur in families across the income distribution. This paper documents and analyzes novel patterns of parental intervivos transfers that are informative to dynamic models of transfers. We sue longitudinal data on parental transfers from the 1996-2014 Health and Retirement Study to characterize the age profile of transfers, including the probability and the transfer amount (unconditional and conditional). We then follow the 1967-71 cohort to describe the frequency of transfers, the distribution of years between transfers, and the total transfers received during different age brackets. Last, we use a dynamic model of parental altruism to analyze the mechanisms generating the distinct transfer types observed in the data. We find that in addition to the cross-sectional patterns documented in the literature, parental altruism is essential to explain the novel dynamic facts on intervivos transfers from longitudinal data.

Suggested Citation

  • Marla Ripoll, 2021. "The Patterns of Parental Intervivos Transfers to Adult Children," Working Paper 7144, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh.
    • Handle: RePEc:pit:wpaper:7144
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Daniel Barczyk & Matthias Kredler, 2014. "Altruistically motivated transfers under uncertainty," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 5(3), pages 705-749, November.
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    7. Juan Carlos Córdoba & Marla Ripoll, 2019. "The Elasticity of Intergenerational Substitution, Parental Altruism, and Fertility Choice," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(5), pages 1935-1972.
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    9. Altonji, Joseph G & Hayashi, Fumio & Kotlikoff, Laurence J, 1997. "Parental Altruism and Inter Vivos Transfers: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1121-1166, December.
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