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Long-term care reform and the labor supply of household members - evidence from a quasi-experiment

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  • Korfhage, Thorben
  • Geyer, Johannes

Abstract

Germany introduced a new mandatory insurance for long-term care in 1995. It replaced a system based on means-tested transfers. The new scheme made it easier for households to draw benefits and to organize informal care. We exploit this reform as a natural experiment and examine its effect on the labor supply of caregivers who live in the same household as the care recipient. We find strong negative results for male labor supply but not for women. We conduct a set of robustness tests and our results prove to be stable.

Suggested Citation

  • Korfhage, Thorben & Geyer, Johannes, 2015. "Long-term care reform and the labor supply of household members - evidence from a quasi-experiment," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113152, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc15:113152
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    1. Johannes Geyer & Thorben Korfhage, 2015. "Long‐term Care Insurance and Carers' Labor Supply – A Structural Model," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(9), pages 1178-1191, September.
    2. Schmitz, Hendrik & Westphal, Matthias, 2017. "Informal care and long-term labor market outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-18.
    3. Lichtblau, Karl & Bähr, Cornelius & Millack, Agnes & van Baal, Sebastian & aus dem Moore, Nils & Korfhage, Thorben, 2015. "Zukunft von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft unter Minimalwachstumsbedingungen: Begründungsmuster, Folgen, Handlungsoptionen," RWI Projektberichte, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, number 123324.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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