Born to lead? The effect of birth order on non-cognitive abilities

Sandra Black, Erik Grönqvist () and Björn Öckert
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Erik Grönqvist: IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, Postal: Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, P O Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden

No 2016:18, Working Paper Series from IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy

Abstract: We study the effect of birth order on personality traits among men using population data on enlistment records and occupations for Sweden. We find that earlier born men are more persistent, socially outgoing, willing to assume responsibility, and able to take initiative than later-borns. In addition, we find that birth order affects occupational sorting; first-born children are more likely to be managers, while later-born children are more likely to be self-employed. We also find that earlier born children are more likely to be in occupations that require leadership ability, social ability and the Big Five personality traits. Finally, we find a significant role of sex composition within the family. Later-born boys suffer an additional penalty the larger the share of boys among the older siblings. When we investigate possible mechanisms, we find that the negative effects of birth order are driven by post-natal environmental factors. We also find evidence of lower parental human capital investments in later-born children.

Keywords: birth order; non-cognitive abilities; managerial skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I00 J10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 51 pages
Date: 2016-11-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab, nep-ltv and nep-neu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Forthcoming as Black, Sandra E., Erik Grönqvist and Björn Öckert, 'Born to lead? The effect of birth order on non-cognitive abilities' in Review of Economics and Statistics, 2017.

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Related works:
Journal Article: Born to Lead? The Effect of Birth Order on Noncognitive Abilities (2018)
Working Paper: Born to Lead? The Effect of Birth Order on Non-Cognitive Abilities (2017)
Working Paper: Born to Lead? The Effect of Birth Order on Non-Cognitive Abilities (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2016_018

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