Parental Benefits from Intergenerational Coresidence: Empirical Evidence from Rural Pakistan

Abstract

This paper explains the negative correlation between the days of work reported by fathers in rural Pakistani households and the incomes earned by their coresident adult sons, thereby contributing to research on the benefits from intergenerational coresidence. I find that the decline in fathers’ days of work that accompanies increases in sons’ incomes primarily results because such income is used to finance expenditures on household public goods, such as consumer durables and ceremonies. Empirical tests reject most alternative explanations of the benefits of coresidence, including the belief that sons contribute to fathers’ wealth.