This study examines the impact of public long-term care (LTC) insurance, which was introduced in year 2000 in Japan, on the time spent on informal care by at-home caregivers. The present paper utilizes the micro data from the Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities (STULA) and a difference-in-difference estimation is conducted to assess the policy effect. Considering DID between the treated and the controlled, which are at-home caregivers who care for the elderly aged 65 or older who are eligible for the LTC insurance and those who care for other family members respectively, it is found that availability of LTC insurance significantly decreased the time spent on informal care among female caregivers who have higher educational background.
