Insecure old-age security

Mohamed Jellal () and François-Charles Wolff

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: In this paper, we examine the old-age security hypothesis according to which parents rear children because they expect the latter to care for them in their later years. In developing countries where there are no perfect capital markets, children are usually viewed as a potential source of income and as a time-related support in old age. However, investing in children remains risky. By focusing on uncertainty about the parental consumption during old age, we show that there exists a precautionary motive for the demand for children so that fertility of prudent parents is expected to increase.

Keywords: Old age; security; chilgren; fertility; uncertainty; income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 D81 H55 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Insecure old-age security (2022)
Journal Article: Insecure old-age security (2002)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:38644

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