Italians 'bribe' sons to stay home into their 30s

ROME - More than 80 per cent of Italian men aged between 18 and 30 still live with their parents and a new study says it is because they are "bribed" by mum and dad.

The study found high rent and unemployment might also be among the reasons for so many mamma's boys. However, mostly they stay at home because they are spoilt by doting parents.

"Parents will be willing to trade off some of their consumption to 'bribe' those children who remain at home by offering them higher consumption in exchange for their presence at home," economists who conducted the study said.

The researchers at the University of London and University of California, Berkeley, found that a 10-per cent increase in parental income resulted in a 10-per cent rise in the proportion of sons living with their parents.

That means if the parents get a pay rise, the grown-up children get to spend the cash, giving them an incentive to stay at home.

The study found that 82 per cent of 18- to 30-year-old men in Italy still lived with their parents, compared with 43 per cent in the United States. The proportion in France, Britain and Germany was between 45 and 53 per cent.

The study, entitled "Why do most young Italian men live with their parents?", was published by the London-based Centre for Economic Policy Research.

- REUTERS