The Effects of Independent and Facility Moves on Intergenerational Transfers of Wealth in the United States

Leah K. VanWey, Indiana University
Shelley Nelson, Indiana University

Studies of elderly migration have focused on the age schedule of migration, common destinations, causes of migration, the relationship between migration and health, and the consequences of migration for the sending and receiving communities. From these studies we learn a great deal about the selectivities of elderly migration and the policy relevant consequences for the migrants themselves and for communities. In this paper, we expand our knowledge to cover the consequences of elderly migration for the families of migrants. Specifically, we explore the ways in which elderly migration affects intergenerational transfers of wealth while the migrant is still living using a variety of regression models with data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We focus on independent moves and moves to different types of retirement facilities and estimate the effects of these moves on inter vivos transfers of wealth to children and grandchildren.