Are Economic Preferences Shaped by the Family Context? The Impact of Birth Order and Siblings' Sex Composition on Economic Preferences

Lena Detlefsen (), Andreas Friedl (), Katharina Lima de Miranda, Ulrich Schmidt and Matthias Sutter
Additional contact information
Lena Detlefsen: University of Kiel
Andreas Friedl: University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

No 11949, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The formation of economic preferences in childhood and adolescence has long-term consequences for life-time outcomes. We study in an experiment with 525 teenagers how both birth order and siblings’ sex composition affect risk, time and social preferences. We find that second born children are typically less patient, less risk averse, and more trusting. However, siblings' sex composition interacts importantly with birth order effects. Second born children are more risk taking only with same-sex siblings. For trust and trustworthiness, birth order effects are larger with mixed-sex siblings than in the single-sex case. Only for patience, siblings’ sex composition does not matter.

Keywords: economic preferences; siblings' sex composition; birth order; experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D10 D90 J12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 50 pages
Date: 2018-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Published - published in: Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 2024, 69, 1-31

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Related works:
Working Paper: Are Economic Preferences Shaped by the Family Context? The Impact of Birth Order and Siblings' Sex Composition on Economic Preferences (2018)
Working Paper: Are economic preferences shaped by the family context? The impact of birth order and siblings’ sex composition on economic preferences (2018)
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