Household Membership Decisions of Adult Children: Exploring European Diversity

Abstract

Although several social, economic, and financial indicators point to a growing convergence among European countries, striking differences still emerge in the timing of leaving home for adult children. In our work, we explore the European diversity, analysing living arrangements of people 1834 years old from 14 European countries. We use the European Community Household Panel survey and augment its informational content with intertemporal indicators of labor, housing, and marriage markets characteristics as well as proxy for welfare states and culture. We find that their role varies by group as well as within groups of European countries. Some important policy implications derive.