IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/66916.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Careful in the crisis? Determinants of older people's informal care receipt in crisis-struck European countries

Author

Listed:
  • Costa-Font, Joan
  • Karlsson, Martin
  • Øien, Henning

Abstract

Macroeconomic downturns can have an important impact on the receipt of informal and formal long-term care, since recessions increase the number of unemployed and affect net wealth. This paper investigates how the market for informal care changed during and after the Great Recession in Europe, with particular focus on their various determinants. We use data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe, which includes a rich set of variables covering waves before and after the Great Recession. We find evidence of an increase in the availability of informal care after the economic downturn when controlling for year and country fixed effects. This trend is mainly driven by changes in care provision of individuals not cohabiting with the care recipient. We also find evidence of several determinants of informal care receipt changing during the crisis such as physical needs, personal wealth and household structures.

Suggested Citation

  • Costa-Font, Joan & Karlsson, Martin & Øien, Henning, 2016. "Careful in the crisis? Determinants of older people's informal care receipt in crisis-struck European countries," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 66916, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:66916
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/66916/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cawley, John & Simon, Kosali I., 2005. "Health insurance coverage and the macroeconomy," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 299-315, March.
    2. Pieter Bakx & Claudine de Meijer & Frederik Schut & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2015. "Going Formal or Informal, Who Cares? The Influence of Public Long‐Term Care Insurance," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(6), pages 631-643, June.
    3. John Cawley & Asako S. Moriya & Kosali Simon, 2015. "The Impact of the Macroeconomy on Health Insurance Coverage: Evidence from the Great Recession," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(2), pages 206-223, February.
    4. Siciliani Luigi, 2013. "The Economics of Long-Term Care," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 14(2), pages 343-375, August.
    5. Karlsson, Martin & Mayhew, Les & Rickayzen, Ben, 2007. "Long term care financing in four OECD countries: Fiscal burden and distributive effects," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 107-134, January.
    6. Andreas Kotsadam, 2012. "The employment costs of caregiving in Norway," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 269-283, December.
    7. K. Bolin & B. Lindgren & P. Lundborg, 2008. "Informal and formal care among single‐living elderly in Europe," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(3), pages 393-409, March.
    8. Joan COSTA‐FONT & Christophe Courbage & Katherine Swartz, 2015. "Financing Long‐Term Care: Ex Ante, Ex Post or Both?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(S1), pages 45-57, March.
    9. Noelke, C. & Beckfield, J., 2014. "Recessions, job loss, and mortality among older us adults," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(11), pages 126-134.
    10. Francesca Colombo, 2012. "Typology of Public Coverage for Long-Term Care in OECD Countries," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Joan Costa-Font & Christophe Courbage (ed.), Financing Long-Term Care in Europe, chapter 2, pages 17-40, Palgrave Macmillan.
    11. Andrew M. Jones (ed.), 2012. "The Elgar Companion to Health Economics, Second Edition," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14021.
    12. Cutler, David M. & Knaul, Felicia & Lozano, Rafael & Mendez, Oscar & Zurita, Beatriz, 2002. "Financial crisis, health outcomes and ageing: Mexico in the 1980s and 1990s," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 279-303, May.
    13. Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Ruhm, Christopher J., 2006. "Deaths rise in good economic times: Evidence from the OECD," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 298-316, December.
    14. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(2), pages 617-650.
    15. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2003. "Good times make you sick," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 637-658, July.
    16. Karlsson, Martin & Mayhew, Les & Plumb, Robert & Rickayzen, Ben, 2006. "Future costs for long-term care: Cost projections for long-term care for older people in the United Kingdom," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 187-213, January.
    17. Joan Costa-Font & Montserrat Costa-Font, 2011. "Explaining Optimistic Old Age Disability and Longevity Expectations," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 104(3), pages 533-544, December.
    18. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2006. "Macroeconomic Conditions, Health and Mortality," Chapters, in: Andrew M. Jones (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Health Economics, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Martin Karlsson & Tor Iversen & Henning Øien, 2012. "Scandinavian Long-Term Care Financing," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Joan Costa-Font & Christophe Courbage (ed.), Financing Long-Term Care in Europe, chapter 14, pages 254-278, Palgrave Macmillan.
    20. Conor Keegan & Steve Thomas & Charles Normand & Conceição Portela, 2013. "Measuring recession severity and its impact on healthcare expenditure," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 139-155, June.
    21. Andreas Kotsadam, 2011. "Does Informal Eldercare Impede Women's Employment? The Case of European Welfare States," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 121-144.
    22. Bolin, K. & Lindgren, B. & Lundborg, P., 2008. "Your next of kin or your own career?: Caring and working among the 50+ of Europe," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 718-738, May.
    23. Barbara Lipszyc & Etienne Sail & Ana Xavier, 2012. "Long-term care: need, use and expenditure in the EU-27," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 469, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    24. David C. Grabowski & Edward C. Norton & Courtney H. Van Houtven, 2012. "Informal Care," Chapters, in: Andrew M. Jones (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Health Economics, Second Edition, chapter 30, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    25. Agnieszka Sowa, 2010. "The System of Long-Term Care in the Czech Republic," CASE Network Studies and Analyses 415, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
    26. Karlsson, Martin & Mayhew, Les & Rickayzen, Ben, 2007. "Long term care financing in 4 OECD countries: fiscal burden and distributive effects," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 34405, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    27. Norton, Edward C., 2000. "Long-term care," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 17, pages 955-994, Elsevier.
    28. Haaland, Venke Furre & Telle, Kjetil, 2015. "Pro-cyclical mortality across socioeconomic groups and health status," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 248-258.
    29. Neumayer, Eric, 2004. "Recessions lower (some) mortality rates:: evidence from Germany," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(6), pages 1037-1047, March.
    30. Joan Costa-Font & Christophe Courbage (ed.), 2012. "Financing Long-Term Care in Europe," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-34919-3, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joan Costa-Font & Cristina Vilaplana-Prieto, 2023. "‘Investing’ in care for old age? An examination of long-term care expenditure dynamics and its spillovers," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 1-30, January.
    2. Florentino Felgueroso & Angel de la Fuente & José E. Boscá & Joan Costa i Font & Rafael Doménech & Javier Ferri & José I. García Pérez & Sergi Jiménez & Diego Rodríguez & Analía Viola, 2020. "Aspectos económicos de la crisis del Covid-19. Boletín de seguimiento nº2," Studies on the Spanish Economy eee2020-14, FEDEA.
    3. Martin Eling & Omid Ghavibazoo, 2019. "Research on long-term care insurance: status quo and directions for future research," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 44(2), pages 303-356, April.
    4. David Cantarero & Marta Pascual & Beatriz Rodríguez-Sánchez, 2022. "Differences in the Use of Formal and Informal Care Services among Older Adults after the Implementation of the Dependency Act in Spain," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 240(1), pages 61-93, March.
    5. Slawa Rokicki & Jessica Cohen & Gunther Fink & Joshua Salomon & Mary Beth Landrum, 2018. "Inference with difference-in-differences with a small number of groups: a review, simulation study and empirical application using SHARE data," CHaRMS Working Papers 18-01, Centre for HeAlth Research at the Management School (CHaRMS).
    6. Mommaerts, Corina & Truskinovsky, Yulya, 2020. "The cyclicality of informal care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Korfhage, Thorben, 2019. "Long-run consequences of informal elderly care and implications of public long-term care insurance," Ruhr Economic Papers 813, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    8. Sergi Jiménez-Martín & Analía Viola, 2020. "La asistencia residencial en España y COVID-19," Studies on the Spanish Economy eee2020-20, FEDEA.
    9. Jesús M. Carro & Elizaveta Pronkina, 2022. "The heterogeneous effects of the great recession on informal care to the elderly," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 355-367, December.
    10. Eric Bonsang & Joan Costa-Font & Joan Costa-i-Font, 2023. "The “Demise of the Caregiving Daughter”? Gender Employment Gaps and the Use of Formal and Informal Care in Europe," CESifo Working Paper Series 10792, CESifo.
    11. Bonsang, Eric & Costa-Font, Joan, 2023. "The "Demise of the Caregiving Daughter"? Gender Employment Gaps and the Use of Formal and Informal Care in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 16615, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Raquel Marfil-Gómez & Marta Morales-Puerto & Álvaro León-Campos & José Miguel Morales-Asencio & Juan Carlos Morilla-Herrera & Eva Timonet-Andreu & Magdalena Cuevas-Fernández Gallego & Celia Martí-Garc, 2020. "Quality of Life, Physical and Mental Health of Family Caregivers of Dependent People with Complex Chronic Disease: Protocol of a Cohort Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-8, October.
    13. Nicola Ciccarelli & Arthur Soest, 2018. "Informal Caregiving, Employment Status and Work Hours of the 50+ Population in Europe," De Economist, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 363-396, September.
    14. Walsh, Brendan & Lyons, Seán, 2021. "Demand for the Statutory Home Care Scheme," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS122.
    15. Johannes Geyer & Peter Haan & Mia Teschner, 2024. "The Impact of Macroeconomic Conditions on Long-Term Care: Evidence on Prices," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2096, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joan Costa-Font & Martin Karlsson & Henning Øien, 2015. "Informal Care and the Great Recession," CINCH Working Paper Series 1502, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health, revised Feb 2015.
    2. Jofre-Bonet, Mireia & Serra-Sastre, Victoria & Vandoros, Sotiris, 2018. "The impact of the Great Recession on health-related risk factors, behaviour and outcomes in England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 213-225.
    3. Jofre-Bonet, M. & Serra-Sastre, V. & Vandoros, S., 2016. "Better Health in Times of Hardship?," Working Papers 16/09, Department of Economics, City University London.
    4. Ainhoa Aparicio, 2014. "Newborn Health and the Business Cycle," CINCH Working Paper Series 1402, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health.
    5. Erdal Tekin & Chandler McClellan & Karen Jean Minyard, 2013. "Health and Health Behaviors during the Worst of Times," NBER Working Papers 19234, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Petri Böckerman & Edvard Johansson & Satu Helakorpi & Ritva Prättälä & Erkki Vartiainen & Antti Uutela, 2007. "Does a slump really make you thinner? Finnish micro‐level evidence 1978–2002," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(1), pages 103-107, January.
    7. Edwards, Ryan, 2008. "Who is hurt by procyclical mortality?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(12), pages 2051-2058, December.
    8. Lin, Shin-Jong, 2006. "The effects of economic instability on infant, neonatal, and postneonatal mortality rates: Evidence from Taiwan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(9), pages 2137-2150, May.
    9. Sheng-Ti Hung & Hui He, 2011. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health? A Macroeconomic Analysis," 2011 Meeting Papers 1178, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    10. Sarah A. Burgard & Jennifer A. Ailshire & Lucie Kalousova, 2013. "The Great Recession and Health," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 650(1), pages 194-213, November.
    11. Propper, Carol & Janke, Katharina & Lee, Kevin & Shields, Kalvinder & Shields, Michael A, 2020. "Macroeconomic Conditions and Health in Britain: Aggregation, Dynamics and Local Area Heterogeneity," CEPR Discussion Papers 14507, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Andreella, Claudia & Karlsson, Martin & Nilsson, Therese & Westphal, Matthias, 2015. "The long shadows of past insults intergenerational transmission of health over 130 years," Ruhr Economic Papers 571, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    13. Kristín Helga Birgisdóttir & Tinna Laufey Ásgeirsdóttir, 2017. "Macroeconomic conditions and population health in Iceland," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(25), pages 769-852.
    14. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2015. "Recessions, healthy no more?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 17-28.
    15. Bassanini, Andrea & Caroli, Eve, 2014. "Is work bad for health? The role of constraint vs choice," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 1402, CEPREMAP.
    16. Ainhoa Aparicio & Libertad González Luna, 2013. "Newborn health and the business cycle: Is it good to be born in bad times?," Economics Working Papers 1374, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Mar 2014.
    17. repec:dau:papers:123456789/12483 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Giri, Jeeten Krishna & Kumaresan, Talitha, 2021. "The business cycle, health behavior, and chronic disease: A study over Three decades," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    19. Ferreira, Ernesto R. & Monteiro, João D. & Manso, José R. Pires, 2018. "Are economic crises age and gender neutral? Evidence from European Union mortality data," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 69-77.
    20. McInerney, Melissa & Mellor, Jennifer M., 2012. "Recessions and seniors’ health, health behaviors, and healthcare use: Analysis of the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 744-751.
    21. Clementine Garrouste & Mathilde Godard, 2016. "The Lasting Health Impact of Leaving School in a Bad Economy: Britons in the 1970s Recession," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 70-92, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    long-term care; informal care; great recession; downturn; old age dependency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:66916. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.