Elderly poverty alleviation through living with family

We estimate here the extent of United States elderly poverty alleviation through living with family. These estimates are motivated by public-policy concern about the well-being of the elderly, and by the relevance of the process for fertility under the old-age-security hypothesis. An inter-temporal poverty-measurement model is estimated with 1984 Survey of Income and Program Participation income and wealth data. Without extended-family co-residence, and assuming no bequests, poverty rates would increase 42% over observed rates. Female elderly account for almost all the alleviated poverty. As a population, their impoverishment with age is effectively prevented by co-residence. Proportionately more black than white elderly are beneficiaries of poverty alleviation through living with family, but white elderly are more likely to be beneficiaries if at risk.Support was provided by grants to Alden Speare from the American Association of Retired Persons Andrus Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty Small Grants program, and to Michael Rendall from United States Department of Agriculture Hatch Grant no. 322-7414. Helpful comments were received in response to presentations at the Annual Meeting of the European Society for Population Economics at Budapest in June 1993, at the Cornell University Life Course Institute in October 1993, and at the Syracuse University NIA Leadership Workshop on Cross-National Issues in Aging in January 1994. Work done by Roger Avery and Rebecca Clark in early phases of data preparation, and comments on earlier versions by Noel Gaston, Meg Meloy, and Sharon Sassler, are especially appreciated. Valuable assistance with SIPP Access was received from Alice Robin and Martin David at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.