2015•Arrow@dit (Dublin Institute of Technology)Open access
The Exchange Motive in Intergenerational Transfers
Sanna Nivakoski
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Abstract
This article examines the exchange motive in intergenerational monetary transfers, namely current inter vivos transfers and planned bequests. The focus is on the causal effect of child-provided help on transfers from parents to adult children. Cross-sectionally, small transfers and help are positively correlated, with the findings robust to inclusion of child-parent relationship controls and lagged help. In an analysis of first-differenced data, the effect is statistically significant at the 10 per cent level. The analysis of planned bequests reveals no effect of child-provided help, suggesting that inter vivos transfers are better suited to exchange.
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