Utrecht University School of Economics, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
Soc Sci Med. 2011 Nov;73(10):1508-16. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.08.027. Epub 2011 Sep 14.
The opportunity costs associated with the provision of informal care are usually estimated based on the reduced potential of the caregiver to partake in paid work (both in terms of whether they are able to undertake paid work, and if so the hours of work undertaken). In addition to the hours of informal care provided, these opportunity costs are also likely determined by the necessity to perform particular informal care tasks at specific moments of the day. The literature, to date, has largely overlooked this dimension of informal care. We used Dutch data from time use diaries which report patterns of informal care throughout the day which enables investigation of when particular activities are undertaken. We found that whereas some tasks must be performed at a relatively fixed time of day, others are shiftable and can be performed at other times or even on different days. Household and organisation activities are more likely to be undertaken by employed caregivers, and seem largely to be shiftable; whereas personal care contains unshiftable activities. This implies additional opportunity costs of providing personal care tasks - we term these "time-bound" opportunity costs. Since the care recipient's need for care may in part relate to unshiftable tasks, we conclude that one should be careful with using care need as an instrument of informal care in labour supply equations.
提供非正式护理相关的机会成本通常基于护理人员从事有偿工作的潜在能力降低来估算（无论是他们是否能够从事有偿工作，以及如果可以，工作时间是多少）。除了提供的非正式护理时间外，这些机会成本还可能取决于在一天中的特定时刻完成特定非正式护理任务的必要性。迄今为止，文献在很大程度上忽略了非正式护理的这一方面。我们使用荷兰的时间使用日记数据，该数据报告了全天的非正式护理模式，从而可以调查特定活动的开展时间。我们发现，虽然有些任务必须在相对固定的时间进行，但其他任务是可以转移的，可以在其他时间甚至不同的日子进行。家庭和组织活动更有可能由有工作的护理人员承担，而且似乎很大程度上是可以转移的；而个人护理则包含不可转移的活动。这意味着提供个人护理任务的机会成本更高——我们将这些称为“限时”机会成本。由于护理对象对护理的需求可能部分与不可转移的任务有关，因此我们得出结论，在劳动供给方程中，不应将护理需求作为非正式护理的工具。
