Who saved Greek youth? Parental support to young adults during the great recession

We use data from the Greek Labour Force Survey to calculate, by region and year, the share of youths who coreside with their parents as a proxy of mutual dependence between parents and adult children, and the share of youths who coreside with their parents and also receive cash transfers as a proxy of one-way dependence of youths on parents. Using panel data analysis, we examine the correlation of each variable with the youth unemployment rate. We find that familial interdependence was strong before the crisis and intensified further during the crisis while at the same time it was transformed from two- to one-directional. Parents stepped in to shelter unemployed and vulnerable youths, mostly young men, and did so by providing housing rather than cash.