The economics of long-term care. An overview

With the rapid increase in long-term care (LTC) needs, it is important to assess the expected contributions of the traditional providers of LTC: the state, the market and the family. We first survey the literature devoted to the family and the market. Then, given the declining role of family caregiving and the negligible role of the market, we look at a number of studies exploring the design of public policies in support of the dependent elderly, particularly those who cannot count on the assistance from their family and those who lack basic means. Those public policies are conceived in such a way that they also rely on both the market and the family.