Demographic changes resulting from increasing life expectancies and declining birth rates have led to higher old-age dependency and greater fiscal pressures. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic linked increases in public assistance have raised fiscal deficits and public debts. In times of fiscal stringency, intergenerational transfers are a crucial form of support for the elderly, especially for immigrants who often have limited work histories and restricted eligibility for Social Security or public pension benefits. Despite the growing immigrant population worldwide, there is limited research on the role that intergenerational transfers play in keeping immigrant families out of poverty. This chapter uses 12 waves of survey data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to explore the patterns of intergenerational transfers across nativity and examine their potential impact on poverty among older immigrants residing in the United States. Our analysis reveals that immigrants are generally more involved in child-to-parent and parent-to-child transfers than comparable natives, with a larger immigrant-native difference in upstream transfers (from children to parents) than in downstream transfers (from parents to children). Our findings also indicate that intergenerational transfer plays a critical role in preventing poverty among older immigrant parents compared to older native-born parents. These findings underscore the need to revisit eligibility rules for public assistance programs to support immigrants.

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How Intergenerational Transfers Impact Poverty Among Aged Immigrants in the United States

  • Jongseong Lee,
  • Neeraj Kaushal

摘要

Demographic changes resulting from increasing life expectancies and declining birth rates have led to higher old-age dependency and greater fiscal pressures. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic linked increases in public assistance have raised fiscal deficits and public debts. In times of fiscal stringency, intergenerational transfers are a crucial form of support for the elderly, especially for immigrants who often have limited work histories and restricted eligibility for Social Security or public pension benefits. Despite the growing immigrant population worldwide, there is limited research on the role that intergenerational transfers play in keeping immigrant families out of poverty. This chapter uses 12 waves of survey data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to explore the patterns of intergenerational transfers across nativity and examine their potential impact on poverty among older immigrants residing in the United States. Our analysis reveals that immigrants are generally more involved in child-to-parent and parent-to-child transfers than comparable natives, with a larger immigrant-native difference in upstream transfers (from children to parents) than in downstream transfers (from parents to children). Our findings also indicate that intergenerational transfer plays a critical role in preventing poverty among older immigrant parents compared to older native-born parents. These findings underscore the need to revisit eligibility rules for public assistance programs to support immigrants.