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Do Siblings Free-Ride in "Being There" for Parents?

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  • Shiko Maruyama

    (School of Economics, the University of New South Wales)

  • Meliyanni Johar

Abstract

When siblings are concerned for the well-being of their elderly parents, the costs of caregiving and long-term commitment create a free-rider problem. If siblings living near their parents can share the costs, this positive externality exacerbates the under-provision of proximate living. Location decisions allow siblings to make a commitment to not provide long-term support for parents, and if decisions are made in birth order, elder siblings may enjoy the first-move advantage. To quantify these e¤ects, we study siblings?location decisions relative to parents by estimating a sequential participation game that features rich heterogeneity. We find moderate altruism and cooperation in the US that imply: (1) limited strategic behavior: more than 90% of children have a dominant strategy; and (2) non-negligible free-riding: of the families with multiple children, had siblings fully internalized externality and jointly maximized their utility, 18.3% more parents would have had at least one child nearby.

Suggested Citation

  • Shiko Maruyama & Meliyanni Johar, 2013. "Do Siblings Free-Ride in "Being There" for Parents?," Discussion Papers 2013-06, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
    • Handle: RePEc:swe:wpaper:2013-06
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    1. Maruyama, Shiko, 2015. "The effect of coresidence on parental health in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-22.
    2. Meliyanni Johar & Shiko Maruyama & Sayaka Nakamura, 2015. "Reciprocity in the Formation of Intergenerational Coresidence," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 192-209, June.
    3. Maruyama, Shiko, 2014. "Estimation of finite sequential games," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 178(2), pages 716-726.
    4. Bergeot, Julien & Tenand, Marianne, 2021. "Does informal care delay nursing home entry? Evidence from Dutch linked survey and administrative data," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 2105, CEPREMAP.
    5. Lingguo Cheng & Hong Liu & Ye Zhang & Zhong Zhao, 2018. "The heterogeneous impact of pension income on elderly living arrangements: evidence from China’s new rural pension scheme," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 155-192, January.
    6. Mizuki Komura & Hikaru Ogawa, 2017. "The prodigal son: does the younger brother always care for his parentsin old age?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(22), pages 2153-2165, May.

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