Data and Code for Child-to-parent Intergenerational Transfers, Social Security and Child Wealth-building V2

Summary:  View help for Summary     In this study, I explore the impact of social security eligibility on transfers between adult children and elderly parents and the resulting impact on wealth building among adult children. I also describe these relationships across different racial and socioeconomic groups. I use data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and a regression discontinuity approach where I describe the outcomes before and at the parents social security eligibility age. The main findings show that almost all groups reduce transfers at the threshold age, but the reduction in the probability that a parent receives transfers is stronger for economically disadvantaged groups. I also find that wealth of adult children increases at the threshold age and this increase is strongest for children of low-income parents. These findings appear to support the hypothesis that, by reducing the reliance of parents on their adult children, social security may contribute to wealth building among the adult-children generation.

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms Social Security; Intergenerational Transfers; Wealth

Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage United States