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Roadblocks on the Road to Grandma’s House: Fertility Consequences of Delayed Retirement

Author

Listed:
  • Erich Battistin

    (Queen Mary University of London, IRVAPP and IZA)

  • Michele De Nadai

    (University of New South Wales)

  • Mario Padula

    (Università della Svizzera italiana, IdEP, CSEF and CEPR)

Abstract
We investigate the role of grandparental childcare for fertility decisions of their offspring. Exploiting pension reforms in Italy, we argue that delayed retirement represents a negative shock to the supply of informal childcare for the next generation. We show that, when the maternal grandmother is not available, motherhood after age 30 is less likely. This effect persists as the woman ages, and parallels that on number of children. We argue that these are permanent changes to completed fertility for many cohorts in our data. Consistent with our interpretation, we show that results are limited to the most familistic close-knits where the role of grandparents is more important, and that are not the mechanical consequence of changes of living arrangements and labor supply. Given the Italian lowest low fertility, we conclude that pension reforms may have had unintended inter-generational effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Erich Battistin & Michele De Nadai & Mario Padula, 2015. "Roadblocks on the Road to Grandma’s House: Fertility Consequences of Delayed Retirement," Working Papers 748, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:748
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    Cited by:

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    3. Edoardo Frattola, 2023. "Parental retirement and fertility decisions across family policy regimes," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1417, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    4. Bertoni, Marco & Brunello, Giorgio & Mazzarella, Gianluca, 2018. "Does postponing minimum retirement age improve healthy behaviors before retirement? Evidence from middle-aged Italian workers," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 215-227.
    5. Massimiliano Bratti & Tommaso Frattini & Francesco Scervini, 2018. "Grandparental availability for child care and maternal labor force participation: pension reform evidence from Italy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(4), pages 1239-1277, October.
    6. Katja Maria Kaufmann & Yasemin Özdemir & Han Ye, 2022. "Spillover Effects of Old-Age Pension across Generations: Family Labor Supply and Child Outcomes," CESifo Working Paper Series 9813, CESifo.
    7. Gianluca Cerruti & Gianluca Mazzarella & Mauro Migliavacca, 2023. "Employment protection legislation and household formation: evidence from Italy," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 913-939, September.
    8. Ainoa Aparicio Fenoll, 2020. "The uneven impact of women's retirement on their daughters' employment," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 795-821, September.
    9. Janna Bergsvik & Agnes Fauske & Rannveig Kaldager Hart, 2021. "Can Policies Stall the Fertility Fall? A Systematic Review of the (Quasi‐) Experimental Literature," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(4), pages 913-964, December.
    10. Ciani, Emanuele, 2016. "Retirement, pension eligibility and home production," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 106-120.
    11. Eibich, Peter & Zai, Xianhua, 2022. "Are the Grandparents Alright?: The Health Consequences of Grandparental Childcare Provision," CINCH Working Paper Series (since 2020) 77108, Duisburg-Essen University Library, DuEPublico.
    12. Ueno, Yuko & 上野, 有子 & Usui, Emiko & 臼井, 恵美子, 2021. "The Effects of Providing Childcare on Grandmothers’ Employment and Mental Health in Japan, 日本で孫の育児が祖母の就業とメンタルヘルスに及ぼす影響," CIS Discussion paper series 691, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    13. Francesca Zanasi & Inge Sieben & Wilfred Uunk, 2020. "Work history, economic resources, and women’s labour market withdrawal after the birth of the first grandchild," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 109-118, March.
    14. Janna Bergsvik & Agnes Fauske & Rannveig K. Hart, 2020. "Effects of policy on fertility. A systematic review of (quasi)experiments," Discussion Papers 922, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    15. Zhu, Penghu & Lin, Boqiang, 2022. "Do the elderly consume more energy? Evidence from the retirement policy in urban China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    16. Gema Zamarro, 2020. "Family labor participation and child care decisions: the role of grannies," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 287-312, September.
    17. Luca Stella, 2017. "Living arrangements in Europe: whether and why paternal retirement matters," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 497-525, June.
    18. Francesca Carta & Marta De Philippis, 2021. "Working horizon and labour supply: the effect of raising the full retirement age on middle-aged individuals," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1314, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    19. Julius Ilciukas, 2022. "Fertility and Parental Retirement," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-021/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    20. Luca Stella, 2014. "Living Arrangements in Europe: Whether and Why Paternal Retirement Matters," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0177, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    21. Yujie Wang & Run Ge & Wenjing Gao & Dunzhe Tang, 2024. "How Does Fertility Policy Relaxation Affect Household Financial Asset Allocation? Evidence from the Universal Two-Child Policy in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-23, January.
    22. Ilciukas, Julius, 2023. "Fertility and parental retirement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fertility; Informal child care; Pension reforms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods

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