Birth Order, Educational Attainment and Earnings: An Investigation Using the PSID

Jasmin Kantarevic and Stéphane Mechoulan ()

No 1789, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Whether siblings of specific birth order perform differently has been a longstanding open empirical question. We use the family tree structure of the PSID to examine two claims found in the literature: whether being early in the birth order implies a distinct educational advantage, and whether there exists, within large families, a pattern of falling then rising attainment with respect to birth order, to the point where it becomes best to be last-born. Drawing from OLS and family fixed effects estimations, we find that being first-born confers a significant educational advantage that persists when considering earnings; being last-born confers none.

Keywords: birth order; family size; education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I2 J1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2005-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Published - published in: Journal of Human Resources, 2006, 41(4), 755-777

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Journal Article: Birth Order, Educational Attainment, and Earnings: An Investigation Using the PSID (2006)
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