The Impacts of Free Universal Elderly Care on the Supply of Informal Care and Labour Supply*

Hollingsworth, B. and Ohinata, A. and Picchio, M. and Walker, I. (2022) The Impacts of Free Universal Elderly Care on the Supply of Informal Care and Labour Supply*. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 84 (4). pp. 933-960. ISSN 0305-9049

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Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of introducing universal free formal personal care on informal caregiving behaviour in Scotland – in particular, we explore the extent to which free formal care might crowd out the supply of informal care. We estimate, in a difference-in-differences framework, that such a reform would: reduce the probability of co-residential informal caregiving (usually, provided by spouses) by around 18% and, conditional on co-residential caring, reduce such informal care by 1.3 hours per week. These estimates suggest that an additional hour of formal care displaces approximately 1 hour of such informal care. However, we find no displacement effect on extra-residential informal caring (often supplied by adult daughters). We also find evidence of increases in labour market participation and hours worked.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics
Additional Information:
Export Date: 4 January 2022 Correspondence Address: Ohinata, A.; Department of Economics, United Kingdom; email: ao160@le.ac.uk Funding details: Medical Research Council, MRC, MR/K022083/1 Funding text 1: Asako Ohinata, Bruce Hollingsworth and Ian Walker gratefully acknowledge financial support from the UK Medical Research Council (MR/K022083/1). References: Adda, J., Berlinski, S., Machin, S., Short-run economic effects of the Scottish smoking ban (2007) International Journal of Epidemiology, 36, pp. 149-154; Arntz, M., Thomsen, S.L., Crowding out informal care? Evidence from a field experiment in Germany (2011) Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 73, pp. 398-427; (2001) Free Care Deal for Elderly People, , http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1559427.stm, 24 September)., BBC. 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Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2000/2002
Subjects:
?? economics and econometricssocial sciences (miscellaneous)statistics and probabilitystatistics, probability and uncertainty ??
ID Code:
173306
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
18 Jul 2022 09:35
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
28 Nov 2023 11:38