Working Paper: NBER ID: w30863
Authors: Grant M. Seiter; Mary J. Lopez; Sita Slavov
Abstract: As the share of U.S. adult children living with their parents increases, it is important to understand how children who “boomerang” back home impact their parents in their pre-retirement and post-retirement years. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine the effects of boomerang children on their parents’ labor market expectations and choices, as well as on their wealth, health, and life satisfaction. Event study analysis suggests that boomerang children return home due to short-term instabilities, such as negative shocks to marriage, income, and employment. We find that boomerang children are associated with a small increase in their parents’ subjective probability of working after age 65. However, there is no clear statistically significant evidence that they impact parents’ current or future labor market choices; nor is there any evidence that they affect parents’ wealth, health, or life satisfaction.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: J12; J14; J26
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Boomerang children (J13) | Increase in parents' subjective probability of working after age 65 (J26) |
| Boomerang children (J13) | Parents' current or future labor market choices (J49) |
| Boomerang children (J13) | Parents' wealth (G51) |
| Boomerang children (J13) | Parents' health (I19) |
| Boomerang children (J13) | Parents' life satisfaction (J12) |
| Boomerang children (J13) | Delay in parents' anticipated retirement (J26) |