SELECTION OF CHILDREN TO PROVIDE CARE - THE EFFECT OF EARLIER PARENTAL TRANSFERS

We use the first wave of data from the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) study to examine the effects of past parent-to -child financial transfers on selection of a child to provide assistan ce with basic personal care for unmarried parents, We estimate a fixed -effects conditional logit model and find a positive and significant a ssociation between past financial transfers and a child's current help ing behavior. The coefficient of past financial transfers is in the di rection hypothesized, and its magnitude is 80% as large as Lat of gend er, a well-documented powerful predictor of parental caregiving. There appears to be substantial evidence that earlier parent-to-child finan cial gifts play a role in determining which child in the family will p rovide assistance.