title: Informal care motivations and intergenerational transfers in European countries.
abstract: This work sets out to analyze the motivations adult children may have to provide informal care, considering the monetary transfers they receive from their parents. Traditional motivations, such as altruism and exchange, are matched against more recent social bond theories. Our findings indicate that informal caregivers receive less frequent and less generous transfers than non-caregivers; that is, caregivers are more prone to suppress their self-interested motivations in order to prioritize the well being of another person. Additionally, long-term public care benefits increase both the probability of receiving a transfer and its amount, with this effect being more intense for both the poorest and richest households. Our findings suggest that if long-term care benefits are intended to increase the recipients' welfare and represent a higher fraction of total income for the poorest households, the effectiveness of these long-term care policies may be diluted.
authors.affiliation: Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Barcelona GSE, Spain.
authors.forename: Sergi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Martín
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vilaplana Prieto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D032721:Adult Children / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology*; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009042:Motivation; D064691:Nurses, Community Health / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: informal care; inter-vivos transfers; money transfers; panel data Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe