Elderly Care and Intrafamily Resource Allocation when Children Migrate

This paper considers the intrafamily allocation of elderly care in the context of international migration where migrant children may be able to provide financial assistance to their parents but are unable to offer physical care. To investigate sibling interaction, I estimate best response functions for individual physical and financial contributions as a function of siblings' contributions. After addressing the endogeneity of siblings' contributions and selection into migration. I find evidence that siblings' financial contributions function as strategic complements while time contributions operate as strategic substitutes. This suggests that contributions may be based on both strategic bequest and public good motivations.