Ageing, family ties and public policy

The project has evaluated a series of family policies in Norway, especially focusing on the interplay among generations, where also the oldest generation is paid attention. The empirical work uses consistently register data. This means we have access to information about the whole population and a rich set of information about background. What is lost relative to surveys is direct information about the quality and quantity of services exchanged in the extended family. We have published a series of articles, here themes and findings from some of the work we deem most central to the project are mentioned. The most important family policy measure in Norway is probably paid parental leave. Evaluation of the original introduction in 1977 has shown positive effects for children?s labor market outcomes. We have studied the subsequent prolongations of the policy and do not find substantial positive effects. We have studied the interplay between the oldest generation and their middle-aged children. We study a reform from the late 90s where some municipalities received more money for home-based care for the elderly. We concentrated on families where the middle-aged daughter was an only child and used the difference between municipalities that got much money and those who didn?t. Better eldercare lead to less sick leave among middle-aged daughters and a higher propensity of full-time work. Another theme has been the interplay of retirement decisions in the family. We use an early retirement reform, available for some men and not others, and look at how the wives of these men are affected. Women with eligible men retire more often than others. This in turn influence the daughters of these women to a higher propensity of full-time work. Family geography is the study of where a family locates relative to other family members, which can be important for family interactions. It is often assumed that the exchange of services and help float more freely in the female line of the family. In many countries we therefore find a matrilocal pattern, meaning that a family settles closer to her place of origin than his. In Norway, but only in rural places, the settlement pattern is patrilocal. Welfare state services as a substitute to family help can be an explanation why Norway is different.

Målet med prosjektet var å generere politikk-relevant kunnskap om politikk som berører familien, med et spesielt blikk på samspillet mellom ulike generasjoner. Vi mener dette målet er nådd. Noen av funnene har vakt stor interesse i politiske miljøer. Andre funn er politikkrelevante på en mer indirekte måte. Vi har tatt formidling på alvor og skrevet og medvirket til en lang rekke medieoppslag og også formidlet direkte til politikere på høyt nivå. Et stort antall artikler har blitt publisert i gode tidsskrifter. Dette sier i hvert fall at forskningen har overlevd et kritisk blikk fra svært selektive tidsskrift. Vi håper prosjektet har hatt en vitenskapelig betydning, også internasjonalt. Vi har vært med å etablere familieøkonomi som et viktig og stort forskningsfelt blant samfunnsøkonomer. Vi har også bygd bro mot miljøer og forskere innen helse og trygd. Også nettverksbyggingen overfor amerikanske og europeiske miljøer synes vi har vært vellykket.

The unifying theme of this project is the flow of services within the extended family (child care and eldercare) and the interrelation between such family-provided services and the service production within the boundaries of the welfare state. This is imp ortant for the possibility to finance a welfare state with an ageing population, but also for life satisfaction, labor market attachment and gender equality both for older and younger generations. Family geography, how the proximity of various members of the extended family influences the flow of family service production, will be given due attention. We will throughout use Norwegian register-based panel data of extraordinary quality. Our aim is to pinpoint causal effects, not only correlations, and such panel data can be better suited for this than for example survey data. Register data allow us to use very large sample sizes, so it becomes possible to study if effects are different for different subgroups, for example as concerns social background or r egion of origin. Panel data also allow reserachers to follow individuals over time, to map their geographic mobility history, their career development, and the formation and dissolution of marriages. The disadvantage of register data is that information o n informal care seldom is availbale, so proxies must be used. We are interested in studying the consequences of informal care and help both from adult children to their frail parents and from grandparents to young families with dependent children. We org anize our research in five subprojects. They are titled as follows: 1. Family vs welfare state care of the elderly. 2. Care of grandchildren. 3. Lone parents and grandparental resources. 4. Power couples and family proximity. 5. Gender gap in sick leave a nd intergenerational links.