Research Group on Aging and the Life Course (FALL)

Publications: ?Künemund/Motel 2000

 

Harald Künemund & Andreas Motel (2000): Verbreitung, Motivation und Entwicklungsperspektiven privater intergenerationeller Hilfeleistungen und Transfers. In: Kohli, Martin & Marc Szydlik (Hrsg.): Generationen in Familie und Gesellschaft. Opladen: Leske + Budrich, 122-137.

(Extent, motivation, and prospects of privat integeneratiola services and transfers)

In recent debates about the welfare state it is often assumed that generous welfare systems displace family solidarity. A theoretical discussion of possible motives for private intergenerational transfers and support shows that such a relationship is plausible only under very specific conditions, for example pure altruism. Based on the German Aging Survey, a large representative survey of the German population aged 40 to 85 (n=4.838), we analyze the flow of support between retirees and their adult children. Our findings suggest that public transfers and services do not displace family solidarity. Instead, we conclude that there exists a positive relationship between the level of welfare state spending for the elderly and intergenerational solidarity within the family.


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