Long-term care reform and the labor supply of informal caregivers – evidence from a quasi-experiment

Germany introduced a new insurance for long-term care in 1995 as part of its social security system. Benefits from the long-term care insurance are not means tested and only depend on the required level of care. The new scheme improved the situation for households wanting to organize informal care at home and it changed the incentives for potential informal caregivers. We exploit this reform as a quasi-experiment and examine its effect on the labor supply of caregivers who live in the same household as the care recipient. We find strong negative labor market effects for men but not for women.