It’s All in the Stars: The Chinese Zodiac and the Effects of Parental Investments on Offspring’s Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Development

Chih Ming Tan, Xiao Wang () and Xiaobo Zhang
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Xiao Wang: International Institute of Finance, University of Science and Technology of China, China

Working Paper series from Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis

Abstract: The importance of (early) parental investments in children’s cognitive and noncognitive outcomes is a question of deep policy significance. However, because parental investments are arguably endogenous, empirically estimating their importance poses a challenge. This paper exploits a rich and novel dataset, the China Family Panel Studies, and proposes a culture-specific instrumental variable based on the Chinese zodiac, in order to identify the impact of parental investments. By looking at the outcomes of children born just before and just after the cutoff for a “lucky” (or “nonlucky”) zodiac sign, we find that parents' investments have significant effects on their offspring’s development of both cognitive and noncognitive skills.

Keywords: Cognitive Skills; Noncognitive Skills; Parental Investments; Zodiac Signs; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I15 J24 O12 O53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna and nep-neu
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http://rcea.org/RePEc/pdf/wp19-10.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: It's all in the stars: The Chinese zodiac and the effects of parental investments on offspring's cognitive and noncognitive skill development (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rim:rimwps:19-10

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