Intergenerational Transfer within Families from the Perspective of Social Inequality in Japan

As in Europe and the US, Japan’s ageing population, and the accompanying generational imbalance, has become one of today’s most pressing social policy issues. My paper principally examines the relationship between social and private intergenerational transfers in Japan. I will discuss how intergenerational transfer within families takes place, and whether this process contributes to expanding inequality between families.

I focus on three kinds of private intergenerational transfer: co-residency, remittance, and asset inheritance. In particular, I intensively discuss different directions of transfer, both from parents to children, and from children to parents. The aim of my research is to identify similarities in determinants of all three types of intergenerational transfer, and in both directions. In conclusion, I explore whether the relationship with macro-level intergenerational imbalance is consistent with the one at the micro-level.

I will analyze data from two sources: the Comprehensive Survey of People’s Living Conditions (CSLCJ), conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and the 2010 Panel Survey of Living Conditions among Middle-age and Elderly People (PSMEP). The former presents cross-sectional, detailed household income data, with a sample size of 26,115. The latter is first wave of nationally representative panel survey of people aged 50 to 84. The survey, with a sample size of 6,442, includes detailed information on financial and care support between parents and children, and on household assets and savings.

              According to my preliminary results, the meaning of co-residency has changed. The elderly are no longer always the beneficiaries of co-residency; rather, they retain the role of household head that provides basic economic support to younger family members. Private transfers divide society rather than redistribute resources, since the older generation provides more than the younger, and intergenerational imbalances in private transfers become more obvious as the population ages.