Pieter Bakx  (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64? The impact of providing informal care on the caregiver's health (with P Zwart & E van Doorslaer) 

Date: January, 21st At 13,00h

Room: 24 013 (Mercè Rodoreda Builiding), please note NOT usual Room!

Abstract:

Informal care that household members provide to each other may substitute for formal long-term care that is purchased and often subsidized by the government. The costs of informal caregiving are borne by the caregiver and may consist of worse health outcomes and, if the caregiver has not retired, worse labor market outcomes. To better understand this choice, we estimate the impact of providing informal care to one's partner on the caregiver's health using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Statistical matching is used to account for the bi-directionality of the relation between providing informal care and caregiver's health. The results show that in the short run caregiving has a large negative effect on the mental health of caregivers, but that their physical health is not affected. There negative effect is potentially short-lived, however: there is no evidence that the effect on mental health persists after 4 or 7 years.

Bio: Pieter Bakx is an assistant professor at the Institute for Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. He studies topics related to the financing and organization of health care, in particular long-term care and hospital care.