scholarly journals Buying out of familial obligation: The tradeoff between financially supporting versus living with elderly parents in Urban China

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haiyan Zhu ◽  
Yu Xie
Keyword(s):  
Financial Support ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Urban China ◽  
Intergenerational Support ◽  
Switching Regression ◽  
Chinese Families ◽  
Elderly Parents ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Children's Interests ◽  
Switching Regression Models

For Chinese families, coresidence with elderly parents is both a form of support and a moderator of financial support. Previous literature on intergenerational support in Chinese societies has studied either coresidence or financial support independently, but not these two forms of support jointly. Using data from the 1999 ‘Study of Family Life in Urban China' in Shanghai, Wuhan, and Xi’an, we examined whether or not adult children, especially sons, buy out of the obligation to live with their parents by providing greater financial support. To account for the potential selection bias associated with coresidence, we treated coresidence and financial transfer as joint outcomes by using endogenous switching regression models. The results showed that children who coreside with their parents would have provided more financial support had they lived away and children who live away from their parents would have provided more financial support had they coresided. These findings suggest a self-selection mechanism that maximizes children’s interests rather than parents’ interests.

The same deep water as you? The impact of alternative governance arrangements of water service delivery on efficiency

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Rodrigues ◽  
António F Tavares
Keyword(s):  
Regulatory Authority ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Water Utilities ◽  
Switching Regression ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Utility Systems ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Switching Regression Models ◽  
Governance Arrangements

This work contributes to the literature on water governance by attempting to provide an answer to the question of what are the differences in efficiency of alternative governance arrangements of water utilities. We test hypotheses derived from property rights, principal–agent, and transaction costs theories using a comprehensive database of 260 water utility systems provided by the Portuguese Regulatory Authority of Water and Waste Services. Using endogenous switching regression models estimated through maximum likelihood, the study is designed in two steps. First, we investigate differences in efficiency between in-house options and externalization and find that in-house solutions as a set (direct provision and municipal companies) are more efficient than externalization options (mixed companies and concessions). Second, we test differences in efficiency within both in-house and externalization solutions, and fail to find statistically significant differences in efficiency between in-house bureaucracies and municipal companies and between mixed companies and concessions.

Intergenerational Support in One- and Multi-child Families in China: Does Child Gender Still Matter?

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Chen ◽  
Lucy P. Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Gender Gap ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
Instrumental Support ◽  
Intergenerational Support ◽  
Child Gender ◽  
Support Provision ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Elderly Parents ◽  
Provision Of Services ◽  
Using Data

Using data from the baseline wave of the China Family Panel Studies, we applied three-level random-intercept logistic regression models to investigate how the child gender gap in intergenerational support differed between one- and multi-child families in China based on 16,201 parent–child dyads. The results showed that sons were more likely to receive both financial and instrumental support from elderly parents. Additionally, sons tended to provide financial support and daughters tended to provide instrumental support. Being in a one-child family increased the chance of children’s receipt of support, but not support provision from/to elderly parents. A difference in child gender gap was only found for children’s receipt of instrumental support, which was less in one-child families than in multi-child families. The findings suggest that the gendered pattern of intergenerational support has not changed in one-child families, which has implications for the provision of services for elderly care, considering families with different structures.

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