Essays on private interhousehold transfers and the family.

Families feed, clothe, house, educate, and nurture their children. To their aged, they give similar support and aid. Even though anecdotal evidence suggests that the existence of such support is clear, the frequency and magnitude of interhousehold support has not been well established. Therefore, the first objective of this dissertation is to develop a group of "stylized facts" regarding private interhousehold transfers. Concentrating on interhousehold transfers of money and time help, it investigates the extent to which society is linked through interhousehold transfers by synthesizing results from earlier studies and contributing new analyses with a new data set. It is found that private interhousehold transfers are pervasive, with 60 percent of all households either giving or receiving assistance in the form of money or time within a single year. In addition, it is found that private transfers are substantial; for those receiving assistance in 1987, the mean amount of money received is about $2,000 and the mean number of hours of help received is over 300. Finally, it characterizes those who participate in private support networks, as well as those who do not. For example, counter to common belief, it is found that whites are more likely to participate in interhousehold transfers than blacks, and the difference persists when income and education are controlled. In addition to the family, the state is a provider of resources. It transfers money, food, and aid of other forms to the poor, the disabled, the elderly, the homeless, and, in general, to those in need. The second objective of the dissertation is to analyze the relationship between these two sources of assistance. Specifically, it concentrates on the Unemployment Insurance program and attempts to determine whether government assistance received as unemployment compensation displaces financial assistance received from family members and friends. The results imply that unemployment compensation does indeed displace private assistance, and the magnitude of effect implies that a one dollar increase in the amount of unemployment compensation reduces the amount of private transfers received by as much as 30 cents.PhDEconomicsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/103304/1/9308440.pdfDescription of 9308440.pdf : Restricted to UM users only