Birth Order and Human Capital Development: Evidence from Ecuador

Monique De Haan, Erik Plug and Jose Rosero

No 6706, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: In this paper we examine the effect of birth order on human capital development in Ecuador using a large national database together with self-collected survey data. Using family fixed effects models we find significant positive birth order effects; earlier born children stay behind in their human capital development from early childhood to adolescence. Turning to potential mechanisms we find that earlier born children receive less quality time from their mothers than later born children. In addition, they are breastfed shorter. The estimated birth order effects are largest for children in their teens growing up in poor, low educated families.

Keywords: Ecuador; human capital development; parental time allocation; birth order (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 I2 J1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2012-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-dev, nep-hap and nep-lam
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Published - published in: Journal of Human Resources, 2014, 49 (2), 359-392

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Related works:
Journal Article: Birth Order and Human Capital Development: Evidence from Ecuador (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6706

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