When Families Fill the Gaps: Intergenerational Support in Aging Societies

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

As the United States population ages and public support systems face mounting fiscal pressure, families increasingly serve as the primary safety net across generations. Yet important questions remain about the mechanisms through which families provide support, and the financial consequences of doing so. This panel presents four papers that illuminate these mechanisms, shedding light on family support early in adulthood and in later life, and offering international evidence on what happens when formal care services expand to meet needs that families cannot.

The first paper, Sharing the Wealth (Rachel Dwyer, Stephanie Moulton, and Meta Brown; Ohio State University), establishes the foundation by documenting how parents share resources with young adults aged 18 to 29 through coresidence and credit sharing. Using consumer credit data from Ohio, the authors find that young adults with intergenerational support exhibit significantly greater financial stability: lower debt delinquency, established independent credit, and reduced reliance on high-cost financial services. Young adults without such support face substantially higher financial risks, underscoring the need for targeted policy interventions.

The second paper, Moving in with the Kids (Ingrid Gould Ellen, Sewin Chan, and Fabian Leal; New York University), examines how multigenerational households form through parent-to-child migration. Using American Community Survey data, the authors find that parental migration toward adult children has risen sharply, particularly among adults aged 50 to 65. These moves vary by gender, race, and income, shaping local housing demand and reflecting the intersection of aging, caregiving needs, and housing affordability.

The third paper, Family First (Grace Brang; New York University), identifies accelerated Social Security claiming as a result of elder caregiving. Using Health and Retirement Study data and a Post-LASSO instrumental variables strategy, the paper finds that caregivers are significantly more likely to claim Social Security before their Full Retirement Age, and to do so more than a year earlier than non-caregivers. Effects are especially pronounced for women, who provide elder care at twice the rate of men.

The fourth paper, Do Home- and Community-Based Services Reduce Elderly Care Needs and Family Caregiving Burden? (Lacey Chu, St. Catherine University; Lu Chen and Cuilian Tan, Nankai University), offers policy evidence from China's 2016 Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) reform pilot. Using a difference-in-differences design, the paper finds that formal community-based care significantly reduces unmet care needs and family caregiving hours, with a cost-benefit ratio exceeding 1:1. As the United States expands its own HCBS programs, these findings offer evidence that well-designed formal services can relieve the family caregiving burden documented across this panel.

Collectively, this panel contributes to multiple strands of literature on credit transfers, household formation, caregiving, and retirement security by examining the mechanisms by which families share resources. The findings speak directly to population and migration policy by illuminating how demographic change impacts family resources across the lifecycle in the United States and other aging societies.

Policy Area

• Population and Migration Issues

Chair

• Jaclene Begley, --

Discussants

• Hope Harvey, University of Kentucky

• Matthew S Rutledge, Boston College

Organizer

• Grace Beata Brang, New York University

Individual Presentations

• Sharing the Wealth: Intergenerational Financial Ties in the Transition to Adulthood - Presenting Author: Stephanie Moulton, The Ohio State University

• Moving in with the Kids: A Spatial and Demographic Analysis of Multigenerational Household Formation - Presenting Author: Fabian Leal, New York University

• Family First: How Elder Care Accelerates Social Security Claiming - Presenting Author: Grace Beata Brang, New York University

• Do Home- and Community-Based Services Reduce Elderly Care Needs and Family Caregiving Burden? Evidence from China - Presenting Author: Lacey Chu, St. Catherine University