California Center for Population Research

Although relatively rare, cross-society comparisons represent a valuable approach in assessing the implications of macro features of societies, such as economic opportunity and underlying systems of family organization, for intergenerational relationships. We examine transfers of money and goods between parents and adult children, using extremely detailed and similarly structured data from Indonesia and Bangladesh. We find strong evidence that traditional patterns of family organization leave an enduring imprint on transfer patterns, based on differences between Indonesia and Bangladesh with respect to the relative roles of adult sons and daughter in providing for their parents. We also find strong evidence that parent-child ties persist in the face of migration, whether to international or domestic destinations.