Family First: The causal effect of family size on cultural participation

Hendrik Sonnabend () and Matthias Westphal ()
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Hendrik Sonnabend: University of Hagen
Matthias Westphal: University of Hagen and RWI Essen

No AWP-07-2025, ACEI Working Paper Series from Association for Cultural Economics International

Abstract: Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we estimate how having children affects parents’ participation in arts, high- and lowbrow cultural activities, and sports. Identification combines three complementary, wellestablished strategies: (i) an event-study design around first births; (ii) twin births as exogenous shocks to second and third births; and (iii) sex-composition preferences as an exogenous driver of third births. Following first births, average participation falls by 13–54%, with event-study dynamics showing large short-run drops and a slow, incomplete recovery within ten years. We also document pronounced gender heterogeneity: mothers experience larger immediate declines, while fathers are more affected on the extensive margin (any participation). By contrast, effects of second and third births are mixed; when present, they are modest and tend to fade as children age.

Keywords: Cultural participation; artistic activities; fertility; gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C36 J13 J16 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2025-10
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cue:wpaper:awp-07-2025

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