by Ainhoa Aparicio Fenoll, June 2018
Abstract
Family support is stronger in countries with weak family policies. In this paper, I test whether
the impact of women’s retirement on their daughters’ employment differs between countries with strong and weak family policies. Using SHARE and self-collected historical data on early and full retirement ages in 20 European countries, I find that women’s retirement leads to an increase in their daughters’ employment in countries with low family benefits, while the opposite is true in high family-benefits countries. The positive effect found in low family-benefits countries can be explained by a decrease in monetary transfers and an increase in grandchild care following retirement. Instead, the reduction in help with practical matters and contact with daughters can explain the negative effect in high family-benefits countries.