Essays on family support for the elderly and its allocation.

Summary The population of most countries is aging and the main caregivers are children. Policy makers are also promoting the provision of care by relatives to delay institutionalization of the elderly. We study the provision of care by children, how assistance is distributed among them, and its effectiveness in delaying institutionalization of the elderly. The main contributions can be summarized as follows. Retirement policies can have negative consequences for frail people with a high number of assistance needs who require daily attention. Children do not coordinate when deciding what to provide for their parent, and the allocation of the help they provide is then inefficient. The results suggest that children are strategic substitutes, but also that the strategic effect is greater for a sister than a brother. This can be explained theoretically by greater productivity in helping women than men. Policy makers should expect that stimulating informal care may accelerate the admission of elderly people with poor health.