The Early Bird gets the Worm? Birth Order Effects in a Dynamic Model of the Family

Elisabeth Gugl and Linda Welling ()

No 710, Department Discussion Papers from Department of Economics, University of Victoria

Abstract: Birth order effects are found in empirical work, but lack theoretical foundations. Our new approach to modelling children provides this. Each child has the same genetic make-up and parents do not favour a child based on its birth order. Each child’s needs change as it grows, and births are sequential. At any point in time siblings are at different developmental stages, and the benefits of parental investment differ across these stages. Parental time investment in children lowers current and future wages; this opportunity cost varies across time. Birth order effects emerge from the interaction of the changing benefits and costs of parental investment.

Keywords: Birth order; children; family (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 D91 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2007-12-16
Note: ISSN 1914-2838
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vic:vicddp:0710

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