Paying informal caregivers

The use of economic incentives in informal care exchanges is examined in the context of Norway's highly but not fully developed welfare state. Informal care has traditionally been unpaid. This may be changing. A random sample of 490 urban, working and lower middle class persons, 70 years of age and over, has shown that the majority feel that long-term help from neighbors should be paid and a substantial minority feel that adult children should be paid for short-term help as well. One in five elderly recipients of informal care reported paying for help. The observed gap between pro-payment attitudes and current payment practices suggests that there may be obstacles hindering the elderly from paying informal caregivers. Payment appears to be related to the legitimacy of requesting assistance which, in a welfare state, involves the use of formal supports to minimize informal care burdens.