Intra-household Competition for Care: The Role of Bequest-regulating Social Norms

We model the allocation of time resources by adult children between competing caring activities - those towards coresiding elderly and those towards coresiding children. We test the implications of our model for children's school performance by focusing on Indonesia, a country characterized by heterogeneity in social norms, population ageing and reliance on the family for elderly support. Specifically, we exploit the unique richness of the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) (Wave 2 to Wave 4) to find robust evidence of a negative impact on children's school achievement of social norms regulating elderly bequests to coresiding adult carers.