Economic development and family structure: From pater familias to the nuclear family

- We study the link between intergenerational coresidence and economic development.
- We focus on the role of age-biased technical progress.
- When technical progress is high, there is a shift from stagnation to growth.
- There is a transition from coresidence to non-coresidence.
- The social status of the elderly tends to deteriorate.

We provide a theory of the interaction between intergenerational living arrangements and economic development. We show that, when technical progress is fast enough, the economy experiences a shift from stagnation to growth, there is a transition from coresidence to non-coresidence, and the social status of the elderly tends to deteriorate.