Consequences of demographic change on caregiving and other time transfers

Zagheni, Emilio

Abstract

Enter the text here that is the new abstract information for your application. This section must be no longer than 30 lines of text. Demographic change in high-income countries includes lower fertility, later age at childbearing, and longer lives. Changes in population age structure and in the timing of events over the life course have relevant consequences for intergenerational transfers of resources. The main goal of this project is to analyze time use data and use them in conjunction with demographic microsimulation to (a) evaluate transfers of unpaid work, such as informal caregiving, between generations and genders, (b) measure levels and trends in the inequality of production and consumption of household goods and services;(c) evaluate the consequences of demographic change on care needs of families. The PI will develop new methods to analyze the Multinational Time Use Study in order to estimate profiles of production, consumption, and transfers of time, by age, sex and household structure. Estimates for a number of countries, and over time, will complement National Transfer Accounts of monetary transfers. Estimates of time transfers will then be used in conjunction with microsimulation of kinship structure to evaluate the implications of demographic change on the size and direction of time flows, as well as on the inequality of time transfers over the life course.

Public Health Relevance

Population aging is increasingly challenging health care systems and traditional forms of intergenerational solidarity. This research project will improve our understanding of the impact of demographic change on care needs of families.