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Roadblocks on the Road to Grandma's House: Fertility Consequences of Delayed Retirement

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  • Padula, Mario
  • Battistin, Erich
  • De Nadai, Michele

Abstract

We investigate the role of grandparental childcare for fertility decisions of their offspring. Exploiting pension reforms in Italy, we argue that delayed retirement means a negative shock to the supply of informal childcare for the next generation. We show that one additional grandparent available in the early child-bearing years increases by 5% the number of children. Effects are limited to the most familistic close-knits, and are not the mechanical consequence of changes in living arrangements, investment in education or labor supply. Given the Italian lowest low fertility, we conclude that pension reforms may have had unintended inter-generational effects.

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  • Padula, Mario & Battistin, Erich & De Nadai, Michele, 2014. "Roadblocks on the Road to Grandma's House: Fertility Consequences of Delayed Retirement," CEPR Discussion Papers 9945, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9945
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    Cited by:

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    2. Eibich, Peter & Siedler, Thomas, 2020. "Retirement, intergenerational time transfers, and fertility," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    3. Kaufmann, Katja Maria & Özdemir, Yasemin & Ye, Han, 2022. "Spillover Effects of Old-Age Pension across Generations: Family Labor Supply and Child Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 15388, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Zhu, Penghu & Lin, Boqiang, 2022. "Do the elderly consume more energy? Evidence from the retirement policy in urban China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    5. Bertoni, Marco & Brunello, Giorgio & Mazzarella, Gianluca, 2018. "Does postponing minimum retirement age improve healthy behaviors before retirement? Evidence from middle-aged Italian workers," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 215-227.
    6. Gema Zamarro, 2020. "Family labor participation and child care decisions: the role of grannies," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 287-312, September.
    7. Luca Stella, 2014. "Living Arrangements in Europe: Whether and Why Paternal Retirement Matters," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0177, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    8. Serena Trucchi & Elsa Fornero & Mariacristina Rossi, 2018. "Retirement rigidities and the gap between effective and desired labour supply by older workers," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-19, December.
    9. Massimiliano Bratti & Tommaso Frattini & Francesco Scervini, 2018. "Grandparental availability for child care and maternal labor force participation: pension reform evidence from Italy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(4), pages 1239-1277, October.
    10. Yujie Wang & Run Ge & Wenjing Gao & Dunzhe Tang, 2024. "How Does Fertility Policy Relaxation Affect Household Financial Asset Allocation? Evidence from the Universal Two-Child Policy in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-23, January.
    11. Luca Stella, 2017. "Living arrangements in Europe: whether and why paternal retirement matters," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 497-525, June.
    12. Gianluca Cerruti & Gianluca Mazzarella & Mauro Migliavacca, 2023. "Employment protection legislation and household formation: evidence from Italy," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 913-939, September.
    13. Ilciukas, Julius, 2023. "Fertility and parental retirement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    14. Ainoa Aparicio Fenoll, 2020. "The uneven impact of women's retirement on their daughters' employment," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 795-821, September.
    15. Francesca Carta & Marta De Philippis, 2021. "Working horizon and labour supply: the effect of raising the full retirement age on middle-aged individuals," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1314, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    16. Janna Bergsvik & Agnes Fauske & Rannveig Kaldager Hart, 2021. "Can Policies Stall the Fertility Fall? A Systematic Review of the (Quasi‐) Experimental Literature," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(4), pages 913-964, December.
    17. Ciani, Emanuele, 2016. "Retirement, pension eligibility and home production," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 106-120.
    18. Edoardo Frattola, 2023. "Parental retirement and fertility decisions across family policy regimes," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1417, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    19. Ueno, Yuko & 上野, 有子 & Usui, Emiko & 臼井, 恵美子, 2021. "The Effects of Providing Childcare on Grandmothers’ Employment and Mental Health in Japan, 日本で孫の育児が祖母の就業とメンタルヘルスに及ぼす影響," CIS Discussion paper series 691, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    20. Francesca Zanasi & Inge Sieben & Wilfred Uunk, 2020. "Work history, economic resources, and women’s labour market withdrawal after the birth of the first grandchild," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 109-118, March.
    21. Janna Bergsvik & Agnes Fauske & Rannveig K. Hart, 2020. "Effects of policy on fertility. A systematic review of (quasi)experiments," Discussion Papers 922, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    22. Julius Ilciukas, 2022. "Fertility and Parental Retirement," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-021/V, Tinbergen Institute.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fertility; Informal child care; Pension reforms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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