Old-age government transfers and the crowding out of private gifts : the 70 and above program for the rural elderly in Mexico

This paper estimates the crowding out of private transfers caused by 70 y Más -a public assistance program for rural elderly adults in Mexico, for whom family support is an important source of income. Using data from the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey and a triple-difference estimation, we find that the program crowds out private transfers by 37 percent, and it does so mainly by reducing the probability of receiving domestic remittances. As a result, the non-labor income of beneficiaries increases by less than their government transfers. Thus, by reducing their private support to elderly adults, domestic donors are dampening the effect of the program, although not completely neutralizing it.