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Endogenous altruism, redistribution, and long term care

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  • Cremer, Helmuth
  • Gahvari, Firouz
  • Pestieau, Pierre

Abstract

This paper studies public provision of long term care insurance in a world in which family assistance is (i) uncertain and (ii) endogenous depending on the time parents spend raising their children. Public benefits will be paid in case of disability but cannot be combined with self-insurance or family aid. The benefits are provided equally to all recipients and financed by a proportional payroll tax. The paper shows that tax distortions imply that full insurance is undesirable. It characterizes the optimal tax and identifies the elements that determine its size. Of crucial importance are the extent of under-insurance, the effect of the tax on the probability of altruism, the distortionary effect of the tax, and, with wage heterogeneity, the covariance between the social mar- ginal utility of lifetime income and (i) earnings (positive effect) and (ii) the probability of altruism default (negative effect).

Suggested Citation

  • Cremer, Helmuth & Gahvari, Firouz & Pestieau, Pierre, 2013. "Endogenous altruism, redistribution, and long term care," TSE Working Papers 13-386, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
  • Handle: RePEc:tse:wpaper:26996
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthière, 2012. "Long-Term Care Insurance Puzzle," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Joan Costa-Font & Christophe Courbage (ed.), Financing Long-Term Care in Europe, chapter 3, pages 41-52, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Donald Cox & Oded Stark, 2007. "On the Demand for Grandchildren: Tied Transfers and the Demonstration Effect," Chapters, in: Luigino Bruni & Pier Luigi Porta (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Happiness, chapter 18, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Barbara Lipszyc & Etienne Sail & Ana Xavier, 2012. "Long-term care: need, use and expenditure in the EU-27," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 469, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
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    5. Brown, Jeffrey R. & Finkelstein, Amy, 2007. "Why is the market for long-term care insurance so small?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(10), pages 1967-1991, November.
    6. CREMER, Helmuth & PESTIEAU, Pierre & PONTHIERE, Grégory, 2012. "The economics of long-term care: a survey," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2012030, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    7. Andrew M. Jones (ed.), 2012. "The Elgar Companion to Health Economics, Second Edition," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14021.
    8. Eytan Sheshinski, 1972. "The Optimal Linear Income-tax," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 39(3), pages 297-302.
    9. Chakrabarti, Subir & Lord, William & Rangazas, Peter, 1993. "Uncertain Altruism and Investment in Children," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 994-1002, September.
    10. Cremer, Helmuth & Gahvari, Firouz & Pestieau, Pierre, 2017. "Uncertain altruism and the provision of long term care," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 12-24.
    11. Bonsang, Eric, 2009. "Does informal care from children to their elderly parents substitute for formal care in Europe?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 143-154, January.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Canta, Chiara & Cremer, Helmuth & Gahvari, Firouz, 2016. "Maybe "honor thy father and thy mother": uncertainfamily aid and the design of social long term care insurance," IDEI Working Papers 864, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse.
    2. Canta, Chiara & Cremer, Helmuth, 2018. "Uncertain Altruism and Non-Linear Long-Term Care Policies," IZA Discussion Papers 11619, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. repec:bla:annpce:v:89:y:2018:i:1:p:49-63 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Chiara Canta & Helmuth Cremer, 2021. "Opting out and topping up reconsidered: Informal care under uncertain altruism," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(1), pages 259-283, February.
    5. Chiara Canta & Helmuth Cremer & Firouz Gahvari, 2020. "“Honor thy father and thy mother” or not: uncertain family aid and the design of social long term care insurance," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 55(4), pages 687-734, December.
    6. 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).
    7. Justina Klimaviciute & Pierre Pestieau, 2023. "The economics of long‐term care. An overview," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 1192-1213, September.
    8. PESTIEAU, Pierre & PONTHIERE, Gregory, 2016. "The Public Economics of Long Term Care," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2016008, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    9. Cremer, Helmuth & Gahvari, Firouz & Pestieau, Pierre, 2017. "Uncertain altruism and the provision of long term care," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 12-24.
    10. 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

    JEL classification:

    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies

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