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Old-age support policy and fertility with strategic bequest motives

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  • Akira Yakita

    (Nagoya City University)

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the effects of public old-age support on individuals’ fertility decisions and on the long-term equilibrium in an overlapping generation economy with strategic bequest motives. Parents must pay their adult children at least the reservation wage to receive informal old-age support from them (individual rationality constraint). Formal old-age support is financed through wage taxes on children. The increased present value of formal old-age support tends to increase old-age utility, thereby decreasing the family support demand and decreasing savings for the old age. The increased wage tax reduces the opportunity cost of child-rearing time, thereby increasing the fertility rate. The effects of increased formal old-age support on per-worker capital and labor are indeterminate, as is the effect on the long-term lifetime utility of individuals. A strategic bequest motive might engender a higher fertility rate than that of the social optimum.

Suggested Citation

  • Akira Yakita, 2024. "Old-age support policy and fertility with strategic bequest motives," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(2), pages 1-23, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:37:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s00148-024-01024-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-024-01024-9
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fertility; Individual rationality constraint; Old-age support; Strategic bequest motives;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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