Child-to-Parent Intergenerational Transfers, Social Security, and Child Wealth Building

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I study the relationship among child-to-parent transfers, parents' social security eligibility, and child wealth building. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and a regression discontinuity approach, I find that the wealth of adult children increases discontinuously at the parents' Social Security eligibility age for Black, female, and low-income groups. Additionally, the probability that a parent receives monetary transfers decreases discontinuously at the Social Security age for these groups. The effects were not statistically significant for counterpart groups. These findings suggest that by reducing the reliance of parents on their adult children, Social Security may contribute to wealth building among economically disadvantaged households.