Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/148198 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
ISER Discussion Paper No. 970
Publisher: 
Osaka University, Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), Osaka
Abstract: 
In this paper, we conduct a theoretical analysis of why individuals provide care 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.
Subjects: 
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
JEL: 
D12
D64
D91
E21
J14
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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