Is Inheritance Fair in South Korea? The Difference in Inheritance Allocation According to Birth Order, Gender, and Caregiving Contribution

Abstract

The objective of this study was to provide empirical evidence on whether the inheritance behaviors of modern Korean society break away from traditional patriarchy and bequests are fairly distributed according to the caregiving contribution. This study evaluated the effects on the inheritance allocation proportion of birth order, gender, and the contribution of children as caregivers, using the first six waves of Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) data, which surveys the South Korean population aged 45 and over. This study conducted a multi-level tobit model analysis on 1,587 deceased parents (level 2) and their 6,054 children (level 1). The analysis results of the multi-level tobit model showed that the eldest son had a 27–32 percentage points higher inheritance allocation proportion than the eldest daughter, while the proportions of the second-eldest and younger daughters was 17–19 percentage points less than that of the eldest daughter. However, the caregiver role before parents died did not significantly affect inheritance allocation proportions.The results suggest that, although the current law stipulates that inheritances should be allocated according to the caregiving contribution at the end of life, patriarchal birth order and gender norms strongly affect inheritance allocation behaviors. The results imply that practical alternatives need to be found in order to eliminate gender inequality and respect the value of caregiving in intergenerational inheritance in cooperation with gender equalitarian.