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Macleans.ca:
Italy's stay-at-home kids

27 April 2014

48 per cent of European adults between 18 and 30 now live with their parents, an increase from 44 per cent at the onset of the economic crisis in 2007. But the highest number is in Italy, with 79 per cent. That's up from about 60 per cent a few years ago, according to a separate report. ... In a 2005 paper written for the Centre for Economic Policy Research [sic] in the UK, economists Marco Manacorda and Enrico Moretti wrote that while high youth unemployment (now at 42 per cent) plays a role in these living arrangements, the main factor is that Italian parents want their children to live with them. The parents essentially bribe their children to stay home by feeding them, doing their laundry and giving them money in exchange for care and companionship.

This article was published online by Macleans.ca (Canada) on April 27, 2014
Link to article here

Related publications
Intergenerational Transfers and Household Structure. Why Do Most Italian Youths Live With Their Parents?, Marco Manacorda and Enrico Moretti, Centre for Economic Performance Discussion Paper No.536, June 2002
Mamma's boys? Why most young Italian men live with their parents, Marco Manacorda and Enrico Moretti. Article in CentrePiece Volume 10, Issue 3, Winter 2005
Why Do Most Italian Youths Live with their Parents? Intergenerational Transfers and Household Structure, Marco Manacorda and Enrico Moretti, Journal of the European Economic Association, 4: 800-829, June 2006

Related links
Marco Manacorda webpage
Labour Markets Programme webpage

Read more... Macleans.ca