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Why Do Children Take Care of Their Elderly Parents? Are the Japanese Any Different?

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  • Horioka, Charles Yuji
  • Gahramanov, Emin
  • Hayat, Aziz
  • Tang, Xueli

Abstract

In this paper, we conduct a theoretical analysis of why individuals provide are and attention to their elderly parents using a two-period overlapping generations model with endogenous saving and a “contest success function” and test this model using micro data from a Japanese household survey, the Osaka University Preference Parameter Study. To summarize our main findings, we find that the Japanese are more likely to live with (or near) their elderly parents and/or to provide care and attention to them if they expect to receive a bequest from them, which constitutes strong support for the selfish bequest motive or the exchange motive (much stronger than in the United States), but we find that their caregiving behavior is also heavily influenced by the strength of their altruism toward their parents and social norms.

Suggested Citation

  • Horioka, Charles Yuji & Gahramanov, Emin & Hayat, Aziz & Tang, Xueli, 2016. "Why Do Children Take Care of Their Elderly Parents? Are the Japanese Any Different?," AGI Working Paper Series 2016-11, Asian Growth Research Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:agi:wpaper:00000108
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Altruism; attention; bequest motive; care; caregiving; contest success function; coresidence; elderly care; exchange motive; family care; informal care; intergenerational transfers; Japan; parental care; parent-child relations; selfishness; social norms; strategic bequest motive;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

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