Does Providing Informal Elderly Care Hasten Retirement? Evidence from Japan
Niimi, Yoko | April 2017
Abstract
This paper examines the implications of providing care to elderly parents for adult children’s retirement plans using microdata from a Japanese survey. We find no significant effect of caregiving on family caregivers’ planned retirement age if we do not take into account caregiving intensity but find a negative and significant effect on retirement plans for intensive caregivers, particularly among women. These findings suggest that relying on family members to provide elderly care can pose a serious challenge to the ongoing efforts of the government to promote the labor supply of women and the elderly to address the shrinkage of the working-age population in Japan. The estimation results suggest that ensuring access to formal care services can help family members reconcile their paid work with caregiving requirements, thereby alleviating the adverse effect of caregiving on their retirement plans. The results also suggest that the financial burden of formal care services could require caregivers to postpone retirement in some cases.
Citation
Niimi, Yoko. 2017. Does Providing Informal Elderly Care Hasten Retirement? Evidence from Japan. © Asian Development Bank Institute. http://hdl.handle.net/11540/7286.Keywords
Aid Financing
Pension Funds
Medical Costs
Health Costs
Rural Population
Urban Population
Public Health Finance
Health Financing
Health Care Financing
Financial Policy
Health Sector Reform
Health Care Cost Control
Health Care Financing
Financial Security
Financial Assistance
Aged Health
Health Care System
Health Care Policy
Access to Health Care
Public Expenditure
Insurance Companies
Fiscal Administration
Medical Costs
Multiemployer pension plans
Keogh plans
Individual retirement accounts
Pension plans
Employee pension trusts
Pension trusts
Nursing homes
Long-term care facilities
Hospices
Accounts payable
Vouchers
Insurance carriers
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