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Age patterns of female reproduction vary widely among iteroparous animal species with determinate growth. Often fertility declines with age, but in other cases, it may be flat or rise across age. Sometimes fertility ceases altogether, leaving a substantial post-reproductive life span. In this article, we discuss theories that may provide some insights into how these diverse patterns might evolve. We present a simple optimal life history model and consider circumstances in which fertility might rise or fall with age. In our model, without assuming that costs per birth rise with age, that foraging efficiency declines, or that net intergenerational transfers increase, we find that optimal fertility would tend to rise rather than decline. This happens because less energy would be allocated to survival at older ages, leaving more to allocate to fertility. In our analysis, optimal fertility could decline at older ages when an older female makes heavy net intergenerational transfers to multiple offspring or grandoffspring, reducing resources for her own reproduction. This pattern is more likely to evolve when costs of fertility at older ages are higher, when costs of reducing juvenile mortality are low, and when the level of juvenile mortality is high. We also derive conditions for the evolution of menopause, for determinate growth, and for juvenile mortality that declines with age. The optimal life history can exhibit a variety of age patterns of fertility, rising, flat, or falling, depending on the constraints and opportunities faced.

In classical evolutionary models, the force of natural selection diminishes with age toward zero by last reproduction. However, intergenerational resource transfers and other late-life contributions in social species may select for postreproductive longevity. We present a formal framework for estimating indirect fitness contributions via production transfers in a skills-intensive foraging niche, reflecting kinship and cooperation among group members. Among contemporary human hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists, indirect fitness contributions from transfers exceed direct reproductive contributions from before menopause until ages when surpluses end, around the modal age of adult death (∼70 y). Under reasonable assumptions, these benefits are the equivalent to having up to several more offspring after age 50. Despite early independence, minimal production surplus, and a shorter lifespan, chimpanzees could theoretically make indirect contributions if they adopted reliable food-sharing practices. Our results for chimpanzees hypothetically adopting hunter-gatherer subsistence suggest that a skills-intensive foraging ecology with late independence and late peak production could select for human-like life histories via positive feedback between longevity and late-life transfers. In contrast, life history changes preceding subsistence shifts would not favor further life extension or subsistence shifts. Our results formalize the theory that longevity can be favored under socioecological conditions characterized by parental and alloparental care funded through transfers of mid- to late-life production surpluses. We also extend our analysis beyond food transfers to illustrate the potential for indirect fitness contributions from pedagogy, or information transfers. While we focus mostly on humans, our approach is adaptable to any context or species where transfers can affect fitness.

This research paper seeks to understand whether the current basic endowment insurance policy has properly played the role of supporting the elderly needs through intergenerational support within the family. Theoretically, there are problems of the imbalanced structure of pension security, retirees' comparatively higher pension and the low-level security of young people's in-service income, and drawbacks of the existing endowment insurance system, both have a certain causal relationship with "gnawing the old." Data on China's family tracking survey in 2016 (CFPS2016), Probit model, IV and PSM robustness testing methods were also used to study the relationship between parents' pensions and their grownup children's "gnawing-the-old" behavior. The results show that: (1) Compared with young people from families without pension income, those with pensioned parent(s) will less possibly choose to work; the parents' financial assistance behavior would restrain the children's intention to work and increase the possibility of "gnawing the old"; (2) Neither the amount of pension income nor financial assistance given to the children is significantly related to young people's "gnawing the old"; (3) Young people's "gnawing the old" behaviors are different according to their parents' professions and living areas; (4) The gap between parents' pension income and children's in-service income also adds to the causes of "gnawing the old." The policy implications of these findings are discussed particularly the formulation of a scientific mechanism for pension income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the headwaters of the Yenisei River in Tuva and northern Mongolia, nomadic pastoralists move between camps in a seasonal rotation that facilitates their animals' access to high-quality grasses and shelter. The use and informal ownership of these camps depending on season helps illustrate evolutionary and ecological principles underlying variation in property relations. Given relatively stable patterns of precipitation and returns to capital improvement, families generally benefit from reusing the same camps year after year. We show that locations with higher economic defensibility and capital investment—winter camps and camps located in mountain/river valleys—are claimed and inherited more frequently than summer camps and camps located in open steppe. Camps are inherited patrilineally and matrilineally at a ratio of 2 : 1. Despite its practical importance, camp inheritance is not associated with livestock wealth today, which is better predicted by education and wealth outside the pastoral economy. The relationship between the livestock wealth of parents and their adult children is significantly positive, but relatively low compared to other pastoralists. The degree of inequality in livestock wealth, however, is very close to that of other pastoralists. This is understandable considering the durability and defensibility of animal wealth and economies of scale common across pastoralists. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolutionary ecology of inequality'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the intergenerational resource transfer contributions of parents and non-parents in Europe? Using National Transfer Accounts and National Time Transfer Accounts for 12 countries around 2010, we go beyond public transfers (net taxes) to also value two statistically much less visible transfers in the family realm: of market goods and of unpaid household labour (time). Non-parents contribute almost exclusively to public transfers. But parents additionally provide still larger private transfers: mothers mainly time, fathers mainly market goods. Estimating transfer stocks over the working life, the average parental/non-parental contribution ratio in Europe flips from 0.73 (public transfers alone) to 2.66 (all three transfers combined). The highest combined parental/non-parental contribution ratios are in Sweden and Finland. The metaphorical tax rates implicitly imposed thereby on rearing children in Europe are multiples of the value-added tax rates in place on consumption goods. Unveiling the sheer magnitude of these invisible transfer asymmetries carries multiple implications for policy debates. For instance, it raises the question whether ageing European societies unwittingly tax, rather than subsidise, their own reproduction. Family friendly policy models, such as the Nordic welfare states, do not mitigate this effect. They help parents work, but do not lower the implicit tax parents pay.

Resource sharing has always been a central component of human sociality. Children require heavy investments in human capital; during working years, help is needed due to illness, disability, or bad luck. While hunter-gatherer elders assisted their descendants, more recently, elderly withdraw from work and require assistance as well. Willingness to share has been critically important for our past evolutionary success and our present daily lives. Here, we document a strong linear relationship between the public and private sharing generosity of a society and the average length of life of its members. Our findings from 34 countries on six continents suggest that survival is higher in societies that provide more support and care for one another. We suggest that this support reduces mortality by meeting urgent material needs, but also that sharing generosity may reflect the strength of social connectedness, which itself benefits human health and wellbeing and indirectly raises survival.

This paper explores the association between having children and expected subjective old-age welfare within a European context. Data for 31 countries from the European Social Survey are used to model the respondents’ concern about their expected old-age well-being and welfare. Having children and the number of children are the primary explanatory variables but a broad set of controls including gender, age, education level, household income and health, as well as others are included. Regional variation in this association within Europe is discussed using four larger groups of countries. The results indicate that those with a higher number of children report that they are less worried about old-age welfare compared to those who have fewer children. In general, those without children had lower concerns regarding their old-age than those with children.

The article reviews current housing mobility patterns in Hungary, with specific regard to relocations within the rental sector and mobility from the owner occupied to the rental sector. By doing this, it intends to gain a more profound insight into housing mobility within or into less secure positions in the housing system. The analysis explores the role of factors beyond basic socioeconomic variables, such as access to different sources of housing finance, to housing mobility, through multivariable analysis of representative survey data. It points out how the lack of access to intergenerational transfers, savings, and mortgage leads to the inability of households to exit the rental sector. Besides, it draws attention to formerly mortgaged households moving from homeownership to the rental sector. It discusses the results in the context of Hungary's super-homeownership tenure structure, the highly ownership-oriented public policies, the lack of effective measures to tackle housing unaffordability and the loosely regulated rental sector. The analysis is based on data from a large sample personal survey conducted in 2018 (N=2650).

Understanding intergenerational transfers of childcare is crucial in the context of declining birth rates, changing family structures, and population aging. Informal assistance in childcare is highly significant for many families with young children as it helps them balance their professional and parenting responsibilities. Existing research indicates that support provided by parents to their adult children in childcare positively impacts decisions regarding childbirth and women's participation in the labor market. The aim of this study is to analyze patterns of support transfer between different generations and identify factors influencing intergenerational transfers in Moldova. It is based on data from the "Generations and Gender" (GGS) study conducted in 2020. Thanks to its representative sample, the study encompasses aspects such as intergenerational transfers related to childcare and grandchildren, attitudes toward childcare, and socio-demographic variables. Statistical analysis involves cross-tabulations and logistic regressions to identify factors determining participation/transmission of support in childcare. The research findings demonstrate that grandparents provide significant assistance to their adult children in childcare, particularly during the initial years of the child's life. This support is predominantly received by women with young children and women with higher education with children. Typically, childcare assistance is offered by grandparents approaching pre-retirement and retirement ages. Factors such as children's ages, family size, level of education, and urban residence significantly influence the receipt of childcare assistance. The results underscore the importance of traditional values and societal expectations, providing a nuanced understanding of intergenerational relationships amidst a changing demographic landscape. They could prove valuable for policymakers and developers of programs supporting families with children.

Age patterns of female reproduction vary widely among iteroparous animal species with determinate growth. Often fertility declines with age, but in other cases, it may be flat or rise across age. Sometimes fertility ceases altogether, leaving a substantial post-reproductive life span. In this article, we discuss theories that may provide some insights into how these diverse patterns might evolve. We present a simple optimal life history model and consider circumstances in which fertility might rise or fall with age. In our model, without assuming that costs per birth rise with age, that foraging efficiency declines, or that net intergenerational transfers increase, we find that optimal fertility would tend to rise rather than decline. This happens because less energy would be allocated to survival at older ages, leaving more to allocate to fertility. In our analysis, optimal fertility could decline at older ages when an older female makes heavy net intergenerational transfers to multiple offspring or grandoffspring, reducing resources for her own reproduction. This pattern is more likely to evolve when costs of fertility at older ages are higher, when costs of reducing juvenile mortality are low, and when the level of juvenile mortality is high. We also derive conditions for the evolution of menopause, for determinate growth, and for juvenile mortality that declines with age. The optimal life history can exhibit a variety of age patterns of fertility, rising, flat, or falling, depending on the constraints and opportunities faced.

This paper explores the association between having children and expected subjective old-age welfare within a European context. Data for 31 countries from the European Social Survey are used to model the respondents' concern about their expected old-age well-being and welfare. Having children and the number of children are the primary explanatory variables but a broad set of controls including gender, age, education level, household income and health, as well as others are included. Regional variation in this association within Europe is discussed using four larger groups of countries. The results indicate that those with a higher number of children report that they are less worried about old-age welfare compared to those who have fewer children. In general, those without children had lower concerns regarding their old-age than those with children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews current housing mobility patterns in Hungary, with specific regard to relocations within the rental sector and mobility from the owner occupied to the rental sector. By doing this, it intends to gain a more profound insight into housing mobility within or into less secure positions in the housing system. The analysis explores the role of factors beyond basic socioeconomic variables, such as access to different sources of housing finance, to housing mobility, through multivariable analysis of representative survey data. It points out how the lack of access to intergenerational transfers, savings, and mortgage leads to the inability of households to exit the rental sector. Besides, it draws attention to formerly mortgaged households moving from homeownership to the rental sector. It discusses the results in the context of Hungary's super-homeownership tenure structure, the highly ownership-oriented public policies, the lack of effective measures to tackle housing unaffordability and the loosely regulated rental sector. The analysis is based on data from a large sample personal survey conducted in 2018 (N=2650). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study first examines the trends in age structural shifts in selected Asian economies over the period 1950–2050 and analyzes their impact on economic growth in terms of the first and second demographic dividends computed from the system of National Transfer Accounts. Then, using the National Transfer Accounts, we analyze the effect of the age structural shifts on the pattern of intergenerational transfers in Japan; the Republic of Korea; and Taipei,China. A brief comparison of the results reveals that, in the next few decades, the latter two are likely to follow in Japan's footsteps by increasing public transfers and asset reallocations, and by reducing familial transfers, particularly among older persons. Next, we consider a newly defined demographic dividend, which is generated through the use of the untapped work capacity of healthy older persons and to which we refer as “the silver” or “the third” demographic dividend. By drawing upon microlevel datasets obtained from Japan and Malaysia, we calculate the magnitude of the impact of that dividend on macroeconomic growth in each of the two economies, concluding that while in Japan the expected effect is substantial, in Malaysia it will take several decades before the country can enjoy comparable benefits.

This paper measures intergenerational transfers through the solidarity reserve of the newly proposed Dutch occupational pension contract. Our first conclusion is that the role of the solidarity reserve is higher than it may appear at a first glance. The fraction of pension savings that can go directly into the solidarity reserve is limited to 10%. However, we find that, in addition, around 30% of the pension savings of a young worker can subsequently be transferred to the solidarity reserve via a levy on future positive excess returns. Our second finding is that the solidarity reserve can introduce a substantial pay-as-you-go element within a funded pension scheme. This feature of the solidarity reserve can be overlooked easily and is not mentioned in the pension bill. Our policy recommendation to pension funds is to make explicit whether or not there is a pay-as-you-go element via the solidarity reserve, and if so to assess whether this is desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the main components and distribution of household net assets in Croatia on the basis of the data from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) by taking into account different socio-demographic characteris¬tics of households. The main results indicate that real assets are widely distributed among households, whereby 85% of households own the household main resi¬dence. Financial assets and liabilities account for larger share among wealthier households. The analysis of the main determinants establishing the position of an individual household in distribution of assets has additionally highlighted the importance of the household main residence (HMR). Households with inherited HMR are less likely to be positioned in the lowest net asset quintile. In addition, households with HMR in the city of Zagreb or on the Adriatic Coast are more likely to be in higher asset quintile groups. The survey has also found that the level of household income, educational attainment, labour market status and age of the household reference person affect the probability of positioning a household in a certain net asset quintile.

Copyright of Sociologija/Sociology: Journal of Sociology, Social Psychology & Social Anthropology is the property of MOD International and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We construct matched panel data sets of adult children with their parents to study the role of lagged parental attributes on subsequent home ownership decisions between 2000 and 2012. Earlier research has demonstrated intergenerational wealth transfers from parents to children are an important source of upfront equity used to purchase a first home, although parental attributes are often omitted as determinants of tenure due to data limitations. A significant role is found for lagged parental wealth on the ability of adult children to become and remain home owners over this period. Endowed differences in parental wealth are estimated to account for the largest explainable share of the white/non‐white gap in becoming a homeowner, and maintaining home ownership once attained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies conducted in historical populations and developing countries have evidenced the existence of clustering in infant deaths, which could be related to genetic inheritance, early life exposures, and/or to social and cultural factors such as education, socioeconomic status or parental care. A transmission of death clustering has also been found across generations. This paper is one of five studies that analyses intergenerational transmissions in infant mortality by using a common program to create the dataset for analysis and run the statistical models with data stored in the Intermediate Data Structure. The results of this study show that in five rural parishes in Scania, the southernmost province of Sweden, during the years 1740-1968 infant mortality was transmitted across generations. Children whose maternal grandmothers experienced two or more infant deaths had higher risks of dying in infancy. The results remained consistent when restricting the sample only to cases where the grandmother had been observed for her entire reproductive history or when controlling for socioeconomic status. When running sex specific models, significant effects of the number of infant deaths of the grandmother were observed for girls but not for boys.

The Norwegian state-owned Petroleum Fund's market value is more than one trillion US dollars, and the Norwegian state has become one of the world's largest stockowners. The Fund was established in 1990 and in 2006 and renamed the 'Government Pension Fund Global', as savings for future generations. What kind of values form the basis for describing the Petroleum Fund in this way? This article shows that the idea that present generations should not empty the North Sea of oil and gas without saving something for future generations has been stable since the 1970s. However, over time, the understanding of how to save has changed. More specifically experts, bureaucrats and politicians have shifted their arguments during four phases: moderation in oil extraction (1974-1983); introduction of the national wealth model (1984-1990); a financial fund for the present and the future (1991-2006); and increased income and new protests (2007-2019). These four periods show that over time the idea of weak sustainability and value commensurability have increasingly come to dominate the argumentation in public documents about the Petroleum Fund. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medicaid provides a critical source of insurance for long‐term care, and individuals may strategically offload assets (typically to children) to meet the means‐tested eligibility requirement. In this article, we quantify the extent of such behavior using variation in the penalty for improper parent‐to‐child transfers induced by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. We estimate difference‐in‐differences models based on the hypothesis that only individuals with high levels of nursing home risk (high risk) will alter transfers because of the Act. We find that over a 2‐year horizon, high‐risk individuals reduced transfers to children on the extensive margin by 11 percent and that the average total amount of transfers decreased by $4,860. The results hold only for coupled respondents. We also conduct a triple‐differences analysis to examine heterogeneity with financial literacy and find that even those with a low level of financial literacy responded to the penalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explain how upward transfers from adult children to their elderly parents might evolve as an interrelated feature of a deepening intergenerational division of labor. Humans have a particularly long period of juvenile dependence requiring both food and care time provided mainly by younger and older adults. We suggest that the division of labor evolves to exploit comparative advantage between young and old adults in fertility, childcare and foraging. Eventually the evolving division of labor reaches a limit when the grandmother's fertility reaches zero (menopause). Continuing, it may hit another limit when the grandmother's foraging time has been reduced to her subsistence needs. Further specialization can occur only with food transfers to the grandmother, enabling her to reduce her foraging time to concentrate on additional childcare. We prove that this outcome can arise only after menopause has evolved. We describe the conditions necessary for both group selection (comparative steady state reproductive fitness) and individual selection (successful invasion by a mutation), and interpret these conditions in terms of comparative advantages.

Intergenerational transfers are one of the most important and contentious aspects of modern welfare systems. In today's societies, financial transfers between adult generations in the family are an important part of the intergenerational link. They are important not only for the family as a whole - how it distributes its resources and ensures its members' well-being - but also for broader aspects such as welfare policy, social inequality, and social integration. The financial transfers are playing an important role in accumulation and distribution of the wealth. In consequence these financial transfers are important not only for the individuals, but also for the social aspects of the wealth redistribution. Using the dataset provided by Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we want to create the profile of the persons over 50 from Romania that give and receive financial aid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economics & Statistics / Economie et Statistique is the property of Ministere de l'Economie, des Finances et de la Relance and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: This research examined mental and physical health differences by (1) potential upward and downward care recipients and (2) heterogenous time and money transfer arrangements among working-age adults aged 35-64 in the U.S. who are considered to belong to the 'sandwich generation'., Methods: Data for this study came from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics 2013 Family File and Rosters and Transfers module (n = 4609). For the second study objective, we restricted the analytic sample to individuals with at least one living parent/parent-in-law and at least one child (n = 2228). We varied the sandwich generation experience by whether upward (i.e., to parent), downward (i.e., to children), or transfers at both directions occurred. We then fit a series of logistic regression models to study psychological distress and self-rated health status differences among various classifications of sandwich generation, controlling for basic sociodemographic factors and living arrangements. For both samples, we ran separate models for those without underaged coresident children., Results: Compared to respondents without potential care recipients, sandwiched individuals do not differ concerning severe psychological distress or poor/fair health. Conditional on being sandwiched between parents/parents-in-law and adult children, providers of both upward and downward time transfers have almost twice the odds of having severe psychological distress while money providers to parents/parents-in-law have about 1.6 times higher odds of reporting poor/fair health status., Conclusion: This study dispels the notion that being part of the sandwich generation is automatically deleterious to mental and physical health. Rather, it is the provision of certain transfers whilst being sandwiched that is associated with worse health outcomes., Competing Interests: None., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Based on European National Transfer Accounts data from 2010, this paper quantifies and evaluates the balance of intergenerational transfer flows in 16 EU countries, including transfers in the form of unpaid household work. On average, the value of net transfers received by a child amounts to sixteen times the labour income of a full-time worker, and the net transfers received by an elderly person to six times the labour income of a full-time worker. Intergenerational transfers can be regarded as the reciprocal exchange between two generations: the size of the transfers to the child generation determines their potential to generate income and finance public transfers to the elderly population once they enter employment. We develop and calculate an indicator to analyse if there is a balance between transfers to children and transfers expected by the elderly population. The results indicate that in most of the analysed countries the human capital investments in children are far too low to finance the generous transfers to the elderly population in the future.

This paper analyses the main components and distribution of household net assets in Croatia on the basis of the data from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) by taking into account different socio-demographic characteristics of households. The main results indicate that real assets are widely distributed among households, whereby 85% of households own the household main residence. Financial assets and liabilities account for larger share among wealthier households. The analysis of the main determinants establishing the position of an individual household in distribution of assets has additionally highlighted the importance of the household main residence (HMR). Households with inherited HMR are less likely to be positioned in the lowest net asset quintile. In addition, households with HMR in the city of Zagreb or on the Adriatic Coast are more likely to be in higher asset quintile groups. The survey has also found that the level of household income, educational attainment, labour market status and age of the household reference person affect the probability of positioning a household in a certain net asset quintile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After three decades of housing reform in China, housing assets constitute a sizable share of family wealth but are distributed unevenly, as registered homeowners are predominantly male. This is partly because males generally have higher incomes than females and can therefore contribute more to the financing, but also because males receive more intergenerational transfers. On the basis of 31 in-depth interviews from Chongqing, this article seeks to answer two questions: 1) How and why does the gender of the recipient affect the negotiation of intergenerational transfers? and 2)What are young women’s possibilities to accumulate housing assets? The research findings show that young women either ask their parents for help to secure housing assets before marriage or they attempt to co-own a home with their husbands after marriage. Women who do not succeed in either of these strategies do not accumulate housing assets and thereby risk their rights to the home if their marriage is dissolved.

In a representative survey, German citizens are asked whether inherited wealth beyond a certain amount should be taxed. Almost 60 percent state that it should not be taxed. Building on this survey, we identify factors that predict this opposition to the taxation of inherited wealth. We find monetary self-interest, redistributive preferences, and the adherence to traditional values to matter. Women are more likely to oppose wealth transfer taxes. We account for interdependencies to other intrafamilial transfers. Subjects' attitude toward wealth transfer taxes does not depend on their personal experience in giving long-term care. Yet subjects who expect the typical German family to reward intrafamilial caregiving through higher wealth transfers are less likely to oppose the taxation of inherited wealth. The opposite holds for subjects who expect these taxes to incentivize earlier inter vivos transfers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Thomas Piketty's thesis that there are no natural limits on the accumulation of wealth. We undertake our examination in the context of a simple general equilibrium model with infinitely lived dynasties. We show that extreme wealth accumulation does not happen in general equilibrium unless capital and labor are substitutes, an assumption which also leads to unbalanced growth. We also show that even with unbalanced growth, differences in rates of return and effective labor are not sufficient to cause unbounded inequality. Only permanent savings rate differences can lead to extreme wealth concentration. Finally, we show that while a flat wealth tax will not eliminate extreme wealth concentration, both a graduated wealth tax and a flat income tax will. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the intergenerational resource transfer contributions of parents and non-parents in Europe? Using National Transfer Accounts and National Time Transfer Accounts for 12 countries around 2010, we go beyond public transfers (net taxes) to also value two statistically much less visible transfers in the family realm: of market goods and of unpaid household labour (time). Non-parents contribute almost exclusively to public transfers. But parents additionally provide still larger private transfers: mothers mainly time, fathers mainly market goods. Estimating transfer stocks over the working life, the average parental/non-parental contribution ratio in Europe flips from 0.73 (public transfers alone) to 2.66 (all three transfers combined). The highest combined parental/non-parental contribution ratios are in Sweden and Finland. The metaphorical tax rates implicitly imposed thereby on rearing children in Europe are multiples of the value-added tax rates in place on consumption goods. Unveiling the sheer magnitude of these invisible transfer asymmetries carries multiple implications for policy debates. For instance, it raises the question whether ageing European societies unwittingly tax, rather than subsidise, their own reproduction. Family friendly policy models, such as the Nordic welfare states, do not mitigate this effect. They help parents work, but do not lower the implicit tax parents pay., Competing Interests: We declare we have no competing interests., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Bequest behavior is a highly delicate and complex subject which requires considerable attention by researchers across all disciplines including economics, sociology and psychology. Studying the motives behind bequests becomes critical not only from a socio-psychological perspective but also from a policy perspective. This paper attempts to explore the socio- economic reasons which influence the intention to bequest focusing specifically on the effect of religious affiliation. This study uses survey data from India to test the hypotheses drawn from the anthropology, sociology and consumer behavior literature using logistic regression technique. The results indicate that self-interest negatively impacts the probability of leaving a legacy. Surprisingly, the study finds evidence for negative relationship between religious affiliation and leaving a bequest. This study also reveals that unmarried women are less likely to leave a bequest. Unlike in the philanthropic literature, the research could not find satisfactory evidence of altruism and social norms driving bequest behavior among Indians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]