I largely agree, especially the Swedish model.
I'm just not sure that model applies to the DR and the culture.
Swedes aren't particularly touchy-feely and as gregarious as Dominicans, not to mention Dominicans live on top of each other.
And multiple-generation households are the rule here out of economic necessity, unlike Sweden. It would be nearly impossible to sequester the old and vulnerable.
Other than that, I'm all-in for herd immunity and think much of the economic damage in the hemisphere is unnecessary and self-inflicted.
How will the DR survive? That's the RD$3,500,000 question...
I have to correct you there Cb.
Dominican households don’t rely on multiple generations on the same home due to economics, but because unlike other countries we were criados keeping our parents and grandparents with us at home once their age are advanced. As parents we also want to have input into our kids general living, be it economical, health or socially.
We keep them at home because that’s how our parents did with us, for the long haul.
Once they married, we also tend to poke them to stay with us and waaaaaaiiiiit a bit more before moving on, telling them it will be more solid financially. But the reality is that for us, family is more than just the last name and having brought them into life.
The reality is that some of those households can’t keep the multiple generations together, but keep networking socially and economically (when possible), because of the same economics where the bread maker can’t cover all the expenses.
For us, our kids will be forever kids and our parents the heads of the household, and the last word on anything.
It’s cultural, not economics.
My daughter made more money than me, living in my household, until she married. She divorced and we asked her to move back in with us with her kids (dizque to help her with baby sitting 😉) until she married again and even then her kids stayed with us for almost two years till they finally moved in with her and the new husband.
For us Dominicans, there’s no greater joy than meeting our parents/grandparents/kids and grandkids when we arrive home. The worst day’s memory washes away instantly...