The Hidden Value of Adult Informal Care in Europe.

ABSTRACT: The hidden value of adult informal care (IC) refers to the unaccounted value of informal care in overall costs of long-term care (LTC) estimates. This paper estimates the net value of adult IC in Europe, drawing on a well-being-based methodology. We use an instrumental variable strategy and a longitudinal and cross-country dataset to estimate the causal effect of the extensive and intensive margin of caregiving on subjective well-being. We estimate the so-called compensating surplus (CS), namely the income equivalent transfer, to compensate for the net disutility of caregiving. We show that IC reduces average subjective well-being by about 1% compared to the mean (6% among co-residential caregivers). Relative to a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the value of IC ranges between 4.2%

SUBMITTER: Costa-Font J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11890091 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature