THE DIVISION OF FAMILY LABOR - CARE FOR ELDERLY PARENTS

We consider the division of caregiving efforts among the children of o lder, functionally limited parents. Our model of parental care assumes that care decisions are made in the context of an extended family, wi th each child taking into account not only the parent's needs and the child's own circumstances, but also the characteristics and actual car e behavior of siblings. We propose a simultaneous-Tobit statistical fr amework that embodies these assumptions. The model is estimated using data from the 1993 Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHE AD) study. The findings indicate that a child's hours of parent care a re reduced, but on much less than a one-for-one basis, as the parent-c are hours of siblings increase. We also find that a child's supply of parent-rare hours is reduced by having sisters, holding constant the c are efforts of siblings.