Fortunes and misfortunes of the dragon sons: Direct and cohort effects of superstition on education attainment

Andy L. Chou

Kyklos, 2022, vol. 75, issue 4, 564-579

Abstract: Previous research has highlighted the impact of the Chinese zodiac on fertility, education, and labor market outcomes. Yet previous research does not account for the indirect impact of parental belief on fertility. I develop a new empirical method for evaluating the impact of the zodiac superstition on education attainment using the difference between school cohorts and zodiac cohorts. The new method nests previous methods and identifies effects of the zodiac superstition on education which are independent of cohort effects. Using the Taiwan Social Change Survey, I find evidence of a positive effect for being born in the dragon zodiac years and a negative effect for being born in the tiger zodiac years. I find the results are driven only by older students within an academic cohort. These results cannot be explained by birth planning or overall increase in self‐confidence.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/kykl.12312

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:75:y:2022:i:4:p:564-579

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0023-5962

Access Statistics for this article

Kyklos is currently edited by Rene L. Frey

More articles in Kyklos from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().