Altruism and the Care of Elderly Parents: Evidence from Japanese Families

This paper analyzes what adult children would do for their parents were they frail and in need of long-term care. Focusing on the special case of parents' illness, the paper then investigates altruism in Japanese children. Descriptive statistics show that about 30% of adult children living separately from their parents provide long-term in-home care, which suggests that a significant number of Japanese children supply care. However, detailed examination reveals that this parental care is not motivated entirely by altruism. We show that children provide parental care when their parents are wealthy enough to meet the costs of nursing.

Do Borrowing Constraints Matter? An Analysis of Why the Permanent Income Hypothesis Does Not Apply in Japan

We use micro data on young married households from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers in order to analyze the importance of borrowing constraints in Japan. We find (1) that 8 to 15 percent of young married Japanese households are borrowing-constrained, (2) that household assets and the husband%u2019s educational attainment are the most important determinants of whether or not a household is borrowing-constrained, and (3) that the Euler equation implication is rejected for both the full sample and for the subsample of unconstrained households. These results suggest that the life cycle/permanent income hypothesis does not apply in Japan and that the presence of borrowing constraints is not the main reason why it does not apply.

Do Borrowing Constraints Matter? An Analysis of Why the Permanent Income Hypothesis Does Not Apply in Japan

We use micro data on young married households from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers in order to analyze the importance of borrowing constraints in Japan. We find (1) that 8 to 15 percent of young married Japanese households are borrowing-constrained, (2) that household assets and the husband's educational attainment are the most important determinants of whether or not a household is borrowing-constrained, and (3) that the Euler equation implication is rejected for both the full sample and for the subsample of unconstrained households. These results suggest that the life cycle/permanent income hypothesis does not apply in Japan and that the presence of borrowing constraints is not the main reason why it does not apply.

Informal Care Giving and Market Labor Supply (in Japanese)

This paper examines how adult-children decide time spent providing nursing care to their parents and their working time in the market. Utilizing a unique survey containing information both on adult-children and their parents in Japan, we clarify whether or not adult-childrenfs supply of informal care would discourage their labor supply. We first find that the existence of inheritance that children expect to receive from their parents in the future is one of the important determinants of whether they provide nursing care to their parents. Controlled for this inheritance effect, childrenfs incentive to provide nursing care discourages their incentive to work, while childrenfs incentive to work does not affect their incentive to provide nursing care. The results imply that limiting access to market care services may decrease labor supply in Japan.Long-Term care, Informal care, Within-family time transfer, Market labor supply, Exchange Motive, Micro-data, Simultaneous-Decisions, Japan.

On the Consumption Insurance Effects of Long-term Care Insurance in Japan: Evidence from Micro-level Household Data

Using micro-level household data in the 2001 Comprehensive Survey of the Living Conditions of the People on Health and Welfare compiled by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, this paper examines how having a household member in need of long-term nursing care can result in welfare losses measured in terms of consumption. In so doing, this study evaluates the role of the public long-term care insurance scheme implemented in Japan in April 2000. The results indicate that when households include a disabled family member, household consumption net of long-term care costs do not decrease as much as before the introduction of long-term care insurance. Further, when compared with the surveys conducted in 1998, theadverse effects on consumption net of long-term care costs have become much weaker. These findings suggest that the introduction of social insurance in 2000 helped Japanese households to reduce the welfare losses associated with a disabled family member.social insurance, consumption insurance, long-term care insurance

On Effects of the Hyogo Earthquake on Household Consumption : A Note

Consumption Insurance, Japanese Households, Earthquake Shocks

Is longer unemployment rewarded with longer job tenure?

This paper examines whether or not a prolonged unemployment period can raise the quality of job matching after unemployment. We focus on job tenure as an indicator of a good quality job match after unemployment. We match two sets of Japanese administrative data compiled by the public employment security offices: one includes information about the circumstances of job seekers receiving unemployment insurance, and the other includes information about job seekers applying for jobs. We first show a negative relationship between unemployment duration and the subsequent job duration. Restricting the sample to job seekers who lower their reservation wage in the final 59 days before expiration of unemployment insurance, we secondly show an even greater negative effect of unemployment duration on the following job duration. The importance lies not only in the duration of unemployment. If job seekers keep a high reservation wage because of the benefits of unemployment insurance, and lower it in response to the expiration of insurance, prolonged unemployment will result in short job duration after unemployment.job search, quality of job match, unemployment duration, unemployment insurance

"On the Consumption Insurance Effects of Long-term Care Insurance In Japan: Evidence from Micro Household Data"

Using micro-level household data in the 2001 Comprehensive Survey of the Living Conditions of the People on Health and Welfare as compiled by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, this paper examines how having a household member in need of long-term nursing care can result in welfare losses measured in terms of consumption. In doing so, the study evaluates the role of the public long-term care insurance scheme implemented in Japan in April 2000. The results indicate that when households included a disabled family member, household consumption net of long-term care costs did not decrease as much as before the introduction of long-term care insurance. When compared with the surveys conducted in 1995 and 1998, the adverse effects on consumption net of long-term care costs have became much weaker. These findings suggest that the introduction of social insurance in 2000 helped to reduce the welfare loss associated with having a disabled family member.