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Upstream Intergenerational Transfers
Author(s) -
Sloan Frank A.,
Zhang Harold H.,
Wang Jingshu
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
southern economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.762
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 2325-8012
pISSN - 0038-4038
DOI - 10.1002/j.2325-8012.2002.tb00497.x
Subject(s) - altruism (biology) , upstream (networking) , economics , transfer (computing) , health and retirement study , demographic economics , monetary economics , labour economics , psychology , demography , social psychology , computer network , sociology , parallel computing , computer science
This study analyzes upstream intergenerational transfers from middle‐aged children to their elderly parents. We formulate a model in which the middle‐aged child transfers both money and time to an elderly parent based on an altruistic motive. We examine substitution between financial transfers and time transfers using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Empirical results support the assumption that upstream transfers are motivated by altruism, particularly financial transfers. Parents financially worse off than their middle‐aged children receive more money. They are more likely to live nearby if not coresident. Overall, the results for time transfers provide weaker support for our model than financial transfers. A child with a high wage tends to transfer money rather than time, suggesting that the two types of transfers are partial substitutes.