How Politico-Economic Systems Shape Individuals' Value of Elderly Care: Evidence From the German Reunification

TY - JOUR

T1 - How Politico-Economic Systems Shape Individuals' Value of Elderly Care: Evidence From the German Reunification

AU - Diederich, Freya

AU - König, Hans-Helmut

AU - Brettschneider, Christian

N1 - © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

PY - 2020/2/24

Y1 - 2020/2/24

N2 - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Perceptions of how societies should care for the elderly people can differ among countries. This study examines to what extent individuals' value of informal care is shaped by the politico-economic system in which they grew up and if this value adjusts once an individual lives in a different politico-economic system.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We use data from the German Family Panel and take advantage of the unique setting of the German separation and reunification. Probit models are used to examine the effect of being born in East Germany on individuals' value of informal care relative to employment at different birth cohorts and survey waves (N = 14,093). Average marginal effects are calculated.RESULTS: Twenty years after reunification, East Germans who spent their adolescence under communism exhibit a higher value of informal care relative to employment than West Germans who grew up in a western social market economy. Differences in values between East and West Germans do not significantly converge over time.DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Individuals' value of informal care is deeply shaped by the politico-economic system in which they grew up. If immigration policies are introduced to increase the care for elderly people, differences in individuals' cultural perceptions of elderly care should be considered as these will not suddenly adjust.

AB - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Perceptions of how societies should care for the elderly people can differ among countries. This study examines to what extent individuals' value of informal care is shaped by the politico-economic system in which they grew up and if this value adjusts once an individual lives in a different politico-economic system.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We use data from the German Family Panel and take advantage of the unique setting of the German separation and reunification. Probit models are used to examine the effect of being born in East Germany on individuals' value of informal care relative to employment at different birth cohorts and survey waves (N = 14,093). Average marginal effects are calculated.RESULTS: Twenty years after reunification, East Germans who spent their adolescence under communism exhibit a higher value of informal care relative to employment than West Germans who grew up in a western social market economy. Differences in values between East and West Germans do not significantly converge over time.DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Individuals' value of informal care is deeply shaped by the politico-economic system in which they grew up. If immigration policies are introduced to increase the care for elderly people, differences in individuals' cultural perceptions of elderly care should be considered as these will not suddenly adjust.

U2 - 10.1093/geront/gnz128

DO - 10.1093/geront/gnz128

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 31602474

VL - 60

SP - 350

EP - 358

JO - GERONTOLOGIST

JF - GERONTOLOGIST

SN - 0016-9013

IS - 2

ER -