The role of Culture in Long-term Care
Informazioni aggiuntive
Autori
Gentili E.,
Masiero G.,
Mazzonna F.
Tipo
Articolo pubblicato in rivista scientifica
Anno
2017
Lingua
Inglese
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to assess the role of culture in shaping individual preferences to- wards different long-term care (LTC) arrangements. The analysis uses Swiss data from two administrative databases covering the universe of formal LTC providers between 2007 and 2013. Switzerland is a multi-cultural confederation where state administrative borders do not always coincide with cultural groups. For this reason, we exploit the within-state variation in cultural groups to show evidence about cultural differences in LTC use. In particular, we use spatial regression discontinuity design (RDD) at the language border between French-speaking and German-speaking individuals living in bilingual cantons to provide causal interpretation of the differences in formal LTC use between these two main cultural groups. Our results suggest a strong role of culture in shaping household decisions about formal LTC use. In particular, elderly people residing in regions speaking a Latin language (French, Italian and Romansh) use home-based care services more intensely and enter in nursing homes at older ages and in worse health conditions with respect to elderly people in German regions. This difference across the two cultural groups are driven by different preferences towards LTC arrangements.
Rivista
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
Volume
143
Numero
C
Pagina inizio
186
Pagina fine
200
ISSN
0167-2681
Parole chiave
Long-term care, Culture, Spatial RDD
