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Why do children transfer to their parents? Evidence from South Korea

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  • Cheolsung Park

Abstract

I examine motives behind interhousehold upstream transfers using a sample of child-parent pairs in South Korea. The estimation results indicate that upstream transfers in Korea cannot be explained by just one motive. I find evidence that altruism is the dominant motive at the margin if parental income is low, but not so if parental income is high. I also find that upstream transfers are given, at least in part, in exchange for child care service and in lieu of personal visits. There is little evidence that upstream transfers are used by children to win parental favor for future gains such as an inheritance or to repay implicit parental loans used for education. Additional evidence is provided from the analysis of the frequency of personal visits and semiparametric regressions. Determinants of downstream transfer amounts are also examined. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Cheolsung Park, 2014. "Why do children transfer to their parents? Evidence from South Korea," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 461-485, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:12:y:2014:i:3:p:461-485
    DOI: 10.1007/s11150-012-9173-6
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    Cited by:

    1. Jung, Haeil & Kim, Jun Hyung & Hong, Gihyeon, 2023. "Impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on single-person households in South Korea," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    2. Wei Xiao & Mingqin Wu, 2021. "Life-cycle factors and entrepreneurship: evidence from rural China," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 2017-2040, December.
    3. Hao-yu Hu & Wei Wang & Da-wei Feng & Hua-lei Yang & Zhong-kun Zhu, 2022. "Number of Children and Monetary Transfers to Elderly Parents in Rural China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 593-615, January.
    4. Carlos Chiapa & Laura Juarez, 2016. "The schooling repayment hypothesis for private transfers: evidence from the PROGRESA/Oportunidades experiment," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 811-828, December.
    5. Stefano Bosi & Thai Ha‐Huy & Cao‐Tung Pham & Ngoc‐Sang Pham, 2022. "Ascendant altruism and asset price bubbles," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 18(4), pages 532-551, December.
    6. Shoshana Grossbard, 2014. "A note on altruism and caregiving in the family: do prices matter?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 487-491, September.
    7. Wilson, Nicholas, 2018. "Altruism in preventive health behavior: At-scale evidence from the HIV/AIDS pandemic," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 119-129.
    8. Jiang, Nan & Kaushal, Neeraj, 2020. "How children's education affects caregiving: Evidence from parent’s last years of life," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    9. Emanuele Ciani & Claudio Deiana, 2018. "No free lunch, buddy: past housing transfers and informal care later in life," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 971-1001, December.
    10. Atsushi Miyake & Masaya Yasuoka, 2016. "Which Should the Government Subsidize: Child Care or Elderly Care?," Discussion Paper Series 144, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University, revised Jun 2016.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Upstream transfer; Intergenerational transfer; Interhousehold transfer; Altruism; D10; J14; J18;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

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