Classified broadly, two motives for intra-family transfers exist: altruism and selfishness. This paper examines two selfish hypotheses − the exchange motive (strategic bequest motive)and the demonstration effect − using a new Japanese micro data set. My analysis of the determinants of...

The selfish life-cycle model or hypothesis is, together with the dynasty or altruism model, the most widely used theoretical model of household behavior in economics, but does this model apply in the case of a country like Japan, which is said to have closer family ties than other countries? In...

We conduct a theoretical and empirical analysis of why children live with (or near) their parents and provide care and assistance to them using microdata from a Japanese household survey, the Osaka University Preference Parameter Study. We find that the Japanese are more likely to live with (or...