This proposal seeks funding to analyze family support and living arrangements of the elderly using new data collected in the initial phase of the National Bureau's Project on the Economics of Aging. The new data come from separate surveys of Massachusetts elderly and their children. They detail the economic, health, living circumstances, and family support of over 2500 Massachusetts elderly, many of whom are the older old, as well as the economic, health, and living circumstances of their children. This information provides an excellent opportunity to assess the extent of support of the elderly by their children in light of the resources of these children. The new data also provide a detailed picture of the health status of older Americans, particularly the old old and permit new insights into family responses to needs arising from poor health. The specific goals of this study are: (1) To improve understanding of the family support network. (2) To study whether selfish motives or altruism are the key determinants of family support. (3) To use new variables describing """"""""supply side"""""""" characteristics of the children of the elderly to study the living arrangements of the elderly as well as family support to the elderly in.the form of transfers of time and money. (4) To understand the dynamics of living arrangements - how often people change their living circumstances and what motivates such changes. (5) To understand how the extended family shares the burden of caring for the elderly. 6) To develop and estimate new structural models of family support.
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