Full Citation

Title: Intra-Household Transfers and Old-Age Security in America, 1890-1950

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2003

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI:

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: This paper explores the economic status of the elderly in late nineteenth and early twentieth century America. It has been widely believed that reduced earnings of aging workers in these periods were fully supplemented by increased earnings of children. The patterns of individual consumptionexpenditures, however, indicate that children's supports were no longer an important means of old age security after the end of the nineteenth century. Older males who were out of the labor force were much poorer than active workers of a similar age. The retired were not as much protected by family support as active workers. This result indicates that the previous studies based mainly on active workers overstate the extent of economic progress of the entire elderly population in theindustrial era. This study tends to support the conventional belief that the rise of the welfare state was a response to the emerging social problems in the era of industrialization such asunemployment, poverty, and dependence of the elderly.

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Lee, Chulhee

Series Title:

Publication Number:

Institution: University of Chicago

Pages:

Publisher Location: Chicago, IL

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Aging and Retirement, Family and Marriage, Labor Force and Occupational Structure

Countries: