Informal Caring-Time and Caregiver Satisfaction

Marcén, Miriam and Molina, José Alberto (2009): Informal Caring-Time and Caregiver Satisfaction.

Abstract

We study the effect that the care decision process has on the amount of caring-time and on informal caregiver satisfaction. We develop a theoretical framework in which we compare three two-stage sequential games, each of which corresponds to a different care decision (family, caregiver, and recipient). We find cases of overprovision of informal care in both the family and the recipient decision models, since the caregiver is obliged to spend more time than he/she would prefer. We then use the Spanish Survey of Informal Assistance for the Elderly (2004) to study the relationship between the care decision processes and the time that informal caregivers devote to care activities, with the results confirming our theoretical hypotheses. We also find that different care decision processes imply differences in the informal caregivers' satisfaction, with intensive caregivers being less likely to have greater satisfaction.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Informal Care; Informal Caregiver Satisfaction; Care Decision Process; Two-stage Sequential Game
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J10 - General; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C7 - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory > C70 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I10 - General

References

Anderson, J.A., 1984. Regression and ordered categorical variables. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B 46, 1-30.

Barmby T, Charles, S., 1992. Informal care and female labour supply. The Scottish Journal of Political Economy 39(3), 228-301.

Blundell, R., Chiappori, P.A., Meghir C., 2005. Collective Labor supply with children. Journal of Political Economy 113(6), 1277-1306.

Carmichael F, Charles, S., 1998. The labour market costs of community care. Journal of Health Economics 17(6), 747-765.

Carmichael F, Charles, S., 2003. The opportunity costs of informal care: does gender matter? Journal of Health Economics 22, 781-803.

Checkovich TJ, Stern, S., 2002. Shared caregiving responsibilities of adult siblings with elderly parents. The Journal of Human Resources 37(3), 441-478.

Chiappori, P. A., 1988. Rational household labor supply. Econometrica 56, 63--90.

Chiappori, P. A., 1992. Collective labor supply and welfare. Journal of Political Economy 100, 437--67.

Engers, M., Stern, S. (2002), Long-term care and family bargaining. International Economic Review 43, 1--44.

Ettner, S.L., 1995. The impact of `Parent Care' on female labor supply decisions. Demography 32(1), 63-80.

Ettner, S.L., 1996. The opportunity costs of elder care. The Journal of Human Resources 31(1),189-205.

Harwood, R.H., Sayer A.A., Hirschfeld M., 2004. Current and future worldwide prevalence of dependency, its relationship to total population, and dependency ratios. Bulletin of the World Health Organization.82 (4).

Hausman, J., McFadden, D., 1984. Specification tests for the multinomial logit model. Econometrica 52, 1219-1240.

Hiedemann, B., Stern, S., 1999. Strategic play among family members when making long-term care decisions. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 40, 29-57.

Heitmueller, A., 2007. The chicken or the egg? Endogeneity in labour market participation of informal carers in England. Journal of Health Economics 26, 536-559.

Heitmueller, A., Inglis, K., 2007. The earnings of informal carers: Wage differentials and opportunity costs. Journal of Health Economics 26, 821-841.

Kotlikoff, L., Morris, J., 1990. Why don't the elderly live with their children? A new look. In: David, W. (Ed.), Issues in the Economics of Aging. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Long, J.S., Freese, J., 2006. Regression models for categorical dependent variables Using Stata 2nd ed. Stata Press Publication

Pezzin, L.E., Schone, B.S., 1997. The allocation of resources in intergenerational households. Adult children and their elderly parents. American Economic Review 87 (2), 460-464.

Pezzin, L.E., Schone, B., 1999. Intergenerational household formation, female labor supply and informal care giving. The Journal of Human Resources 34 (30), 475--503.

Pezzin, L.E., Schone, B., 2002, Intergenerational transfers of time and elderly living arrangements: A bargaining model of family resource allocation decisions. Working paper, AHRQ, Rockville, MD.

Pezzin, L.E., Pollak, R.A., Schone, B.S., 2007. Efficiency in family bargaining: Living arrangements and caregiving decisions of adult children and disabled elderly parents. CESifo Working Paper Series No. 1908.

Small, K.A., Hsiao, C., 1985. Multinomial logit specification tests. International Economic Review 26, 619-627.

Spillman, B.C., Pezzin, L.E., 2000. Potential and active family caregivers: changing networks and the `sandwich generation'. Milbank Quarterly 78 (3), 339--347.

Stabile, M., Laporte, A., Coyte, P.C., 2006. Household responses to public home care programs. Journal of Health Economics 25, 674-701.

Stern, S., 1995. Estimating family long-term care decisions in the presence of endogenous child characteristics. The Journal of Human Resources 30(3), 551-80.

Van Houtven, C., Norton, E.C., 2004. Informal care and health care use older adults. Journal of Health Economics 23, 1159-1180.

World Heath Organization, 1999. Home-based and long-term care. EB108/6.