| This dissertation consists of three essays on redistribution of resources across age or intergenerational transfers. Essay one presents the estimation of National Transfer Flow Account (NTFA). The NTFA measures the flows of consumption and income and the reallocation of economic resources across age in a period of time. To estimate the NTFA, the aggregate controls are first estimated using National Income and Product Accounts and these estimated aggregate controls are subsequently allocated across ages. This essay contributes to developing the methodology of estimating aggregate controls so that the NTFA is consistent with the National Income and Product Account. Also, this essay contributes to introducing the NTFA using Taiwan data. The methodology introduced and documented can be adopted to estimate NTFA for other countries. The results of the account shed light on the economic support systems in a country.;Employing the estimated familial transfer concept from essay one, essay two presents the economic returns of childrearing during the fertility transition. I attempt to examine Caldwell's theory (1976), which posits that the economic value of children and the direction of transfer flows determine one's incentive for childbearing. Unlike previous empirical studies, the returns are estimated using pseudo-panel data instead of employing cross-sectional data. A method is developed to assess the economic returns of childrearing to the average parent over the parental lifecycle. The results are that the net direction of familial transfers is from children to parents for parents of high cohort fertility. The direction is reversed for parents of low cohort fertility, not rejecting Caldwell's theory.;The effects of public cash transfers and public in-kind transfers on familial transfers are the focus of essay three. Specifically, I evaluate the crowding out effects of public transfers on both interhousehold transfers and intrahousehold transfers. The crowding effects of two types of public transfers are compared: cash and in-kind. Using the "difference-in-difference" approach, the findings are that one dollar of public transfers crowds out 10-20 cents of interhousehold transfers. When intrahousehold transfers are included, the crowding out rate increases to 40-60 cents. Furthermore, cash transfers have a larger crowding out effect than in-kind transfers. |
