Who Pays for Care examines how the costs of ageing and long-term care are distributed across households, markets, and public institutions in China. When older people experience disability or frailty, families may bear the burden through direct payments, unpaid caregiving time, reduced employment, intergenerational transfers, asset depletion, and lower consumption. This book develops a care-security framework linking eldercare services, long-term care insurance, family substitution, household financial resilience, digital financial inclusion, and age-friendly financial infrastructure. Drawing on city-level evidence, policy-linked comparisons, and longitudinal household records, it explains how formal care systems can reduce or redistribute residual family burdens. The book also considers AI-enabled eldercare as a governance challenge involving access, privacy, accountability, human oversight, and redress. Written for researchers, policymakers, students, and practitioners, the book offers an evidence-bounded account of who pays for care and a practical portfolio for building more secure and equitable care systems.
