Intergenerational money and time transfers by gender in Spain: Who are the actual dependents?

Rentería, E., Scandurra, R., Souto, G., and Patxot, C. (2016). "Intergenerational money and time transfers by gender in Spain: Who are the actual dependants?" Demographic Research, 34: 689-704.

ABSTRACT:

Background: The analysis of intergenerational transfers can shed light on the interaction between population age structure and welfare. Nevertheless, a thorough examination of this issue requires consideration of both monetary (market) and time (non-market) transfers.

Objective: We analyse market and non-market production, consumption, and transfers by age and gender for Spain from 2009−2010 using National (Time) Transfer Accounts (NTA and NTTA) methodology.

Methods: Using National Accounts, microdata from different surveys, and the Time Use Survey, we estimate age and sex-specific profiles of monetary and time production and consumption for Spain. Consequently, a surplus or deficit and the resulting transfers are obtained.

Results: We observe higher labour income for men with respect to women throughout the age profile. Nevertheless, women spend more hours in total (market and non-market activities) than men. This division drives an asymmetry in private transfers. While men are net donors of money to other age groups during their working life, women are net donors of time to other household members (mainly children and their partners) over their lives.

Conclusions: The inclusion of the non-market economy in the analysis of intergenerational transfers is crucial to observe real inequalities between genders throughout the life cycle. This challenges the ‘economic dependency’ of women based on a market economy. The results suggest that the public sector in Spain should reinforce policies that take into account women’s contribution to the welfare of other population groups, and call for policies that reconcile professional and family obligations.

The age-profile of invisible transfers: The true size of asymmetry in inter-age reallocations

Note that this article is written by CWW-affiliated researchers who use comparable methods but were part of a different project.

Gál, R., Szabó, E., and Vargha, L., 2015. "The age-profile of invisible transfers: The true size of asymmetry in inter-age reallocations". The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 5: 98-104.

ABSTRACT:

We argue that the institutional composition of funding consumption in the two dependent sections of the lifecycle, childhood and old age, are different. To put it sharply, children are raised by their parents, the elderly rely on society. Since the reallocation of resources within and between households are not registered in National Accounts, the majority of the resources transferred to children are not visible in contrast to resources flowing to the elderly, which are almost entirely observed in public statistics. For our analysis we apply a recent extension of National Accounts, called the National Transfer Accounts, which include private transfers; and a further, experimental extension, the National Time Transfer Accounts, which quantifies the value of time transferred among household members in the form of unpaid household labor. We show that less than one third of the full transfer package flowing to children is registered in the National Accounts and another roughly one third is made visible by the National Transfer Accounts. The remaining one third, which is the value of parents caring for their children, is made visible by the National Time Transfer Accounts. The corresponding shares in funding old age are quite different: 90 percent is observed in public statistics and the two accounting extensions unfold only a bit less than 10 percent.

Analysis of non-remunerated production in Costa Rica

Jiménez-Fontana, P., 2015. "Analysis of non-remunerated production in Costa Rica". Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 5: 45-53.

ABSTRACT:

Disaggregating national production by sex might lead to the misleading conclusion that women’s contribution to the economy is significantly lower than men’s. National Accounts fail to measure the time people dedicate to non-remunerated production because there is no explicit economic compensation. However, non-remunerated production contributes indirectly to the economy, and it represents part of the real cost of taking care of others. The opportunity cost of dedication to non-remunerated production depends highly on the educational level and personal preferences. This article estimates the real contribution of men and women to the Costa Rican economy by calculating labor income and non-remunerated production by age and sex. In addition, the article disaggregates the main activities of non-remunerated production by educational level.

Gender Accounting of Consumption and the Life-cycle Deficit for India

Laishram, L., 2013. "Gender Accounting of Consumption and the Life-cycle Deficit for India". Asia-Pacific Population Journal, 28(2) 27-49.

ABSTRACT:

Life-cycle deficits for women and men in India at different stages of the life cycle are examined in the present paper. Disaggregating life- cycle deficits according to sex, which is termed gender accounting, is important for gender-based budgeting, as it helps Governments allocate funds according to gender needs. A Life-cycle deficit is the difference between income and consumption at different stages of the life cycle. The significance of the paper lies in its contribution to understanding the male-female differential in public and private expenditure on health care, education, and other goods and services in monetary terms and life-cycle deficit. The author finds that, overall, women have a life- cycle deficit, largely due to their lower rates of participation in the paid workforce. However, women perform a large amount of unpaid labour; thus, their life-cycle deficit could turn into a surplus if a monetary value were placed on unpaid labour. However, it is also shown in the present paper that consumption on health-care needs is higher for males in childhood as well as in old age, which can be partly attributed to the discriminatory sociocultural practices that are prevalent in India. As regards education, households tend to spend more on male education than on female education after the age of 15, which is the age at which free-of-charge public education ends.

The author concludes that gender accounting needs to be strengthened so as to allow Governments to allocate funds in order to promote gender equality and empower women. The author also recommends that, in order to achieve gender equality, public funding of health care is not enough. More needs to be done to remove the sociocultural barriers to the use of public services, such as health services.