First Come, First Served? Birth Order Effects on Child Height in South Africa

Rajan Bishwakarma and Kira M. Villa
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Rajan Bishwakarma: University of New Mexico
Kira M. Villa: University of New Mexico

JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, 2019, vol. 85, issue 1, 71-94

Abstract: We examine the birth order effects on health status for a sample of children aged 1–18 years in South Africa. Using a mother fixed-effects specification, we observe children's height-for-age z-score decreases with birth order. We investigate potential mechanisms underlying the birth order effect including those related to biology, parental preferences, and resource dilution. We also look at whether these effects are due to selection into families of different sizes. We find that the magnitude of the effect is larger in poorer and rural households and in larger families – suggesting that the birth order effect is largely due to resource dilution in economically constrained households.

Keywords: Birth order, Child health, Developing country, Resource dilution; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 J13 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-03-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ctl:louvde:v:85:y:2019:i:1:p:71-94

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