title: The opportunity costs of informal elder-care in the United States: new estimates from the American Time Use Survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide nationally representative estimates of the opportunity costs of informal elder-care in the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from the 2011 and 2012 American Time Use Survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Wage is used as the measure of an individual's value of time (opportunity cost), with wages being imputed for nonworking individuals using a selection-corrected regression methodology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total opportunity costs of informal elder-care amount to $522 billion annually, while the costs of replacing this care by unskilled and skilled paid care are $221 billion and $642 billion, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Informal caregiving remains a significant phenomenon in the United States with a high opportunity cost, although it remains more economical (in the aggregate) than skilled paid care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Sussex, Jubilee 221, Brighton BN1 9RH, UK.
authors.forename: Amalavoyal V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Chari
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Engberg
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and practices at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
authors.forename: Kristin N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School and RAND Corporation, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Ateev
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mehrotra
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000191:economics*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017059:Models, Econometric; D044469:Racial Groups; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States
keywords: Informal caregiving; elder-care; opportunity cost