IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/atlecj/v43y2015i4p463-476.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Birth Order on Occupational Choice

Author

Listed:
  • Alice Grinberg

Abstract

Research suggests that birth order has a profound influence on personality development, but there has been little research investigating the effect of birth order on a person’s occupational choice. A number of psychologists, including Frank Sulloway and Reid Claxton, argue that first-borns are more likely to become managers because their order in the family trains them in managerial and leadership skills. In contrast, several economists, such as Gary Becker, argue that first-borns are often economically successful because they receive more resources from their parents than other children. This occurs both because they tend to have fewer siblings and because they receive their parents’ unshared attention before their younger siblings are born. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) of 1979, we investigate which of these models best accords with the data. We find that first-borns are indeed more likely to select managerial positions than later-borns, but that this effect is due to first-borns having, on average, fewer siblings than others, not to being first-born per se. Further, we find the effect of family size is strongest among lower-income families, lending support to Becker’s hypothesis. Copyright International Atlantic Economic Society 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Alice Grinberg, 2015. "The Effect of Birth Order on Occupational Choice," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 43(4), pages 463-476, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:atlecj:v:43:y:2015:i:4:p:463-476
    DOI: 10.1007/s11293-015-9474-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11293-015-9474-2
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11293-015-9474-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rasheda Khanam, 2008. "Child labour and school attendance: evidence from Bangladesh," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(1/2), pages 77-98, January.
    2. Becker, Gary S & Tomes, Nigel, 1976. "Child Endowments and the Quantity and Quality of Children," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(4), pages 143-162, August.
    3. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2005. "The More the Merrier? The Effect of Family Size and Birth Order on Children's Education," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 669-700.
    4. Angrist, Joshua D & Evans, William N, 1998. "Children and Their Parents' Labor Supply: Evidence from Exogenous Variation in Family Size," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 450-477, June.
    5. Khanam, Rasheda & Ross, Russell, 2005. "Impact of Child Labour on School Attendance and School Attainment: Evidence from Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 9397, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Apr 2008.
    6. Joseph Price, 2008. "Parent-Child Quality Time: Does Birth Order Matter?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(1).
    7. Judith Blake, 1981. "Family size and the quality of children," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 18(4), pages 421-442, November.
    8. Khanam, Rasheda & Rahman, Mohammad Mafizur, 2005. "Child Work and Schooling in Bangladesh: The Role of Birth Order," MPRA Paper 8009, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Kessler, Daniel, 1991. "Birth Order, Family Size, and Achievement: Family Structure and Wage Determination," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(4), pages 413-426, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sandra E. Black & Erik Grönqvist & Björn Öckert, 2018. "Born to Lead? The Effect of Birth Order on Noncognitive Abilities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(2), pages 274-286, May.
    2. Mats Lillehagen & Martin Arstad Isungset, 2020. "New Partner, New Order? Multipartnered Fertility and Birth Order Effects on Educational Achievement," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(5), pages 1625-1646, October.
    3. Wänström, Linda & Wegmann, Bertil, 2017. "Effects of sibship size on intelligence, school performance and adult income: Some evidence from Swedish data," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1-11.
    4. Young-Joo Kim, 2020. "Born to be more educated? Birth order and schooling," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 165-180, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. de Haan, Monique, 2010. "Birth order, family size and educational attainment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 576-588, August.
    2. Lucio Esposito & Sunil Mitra Kumar & Adrián Villaseñor, 2020. "The importance of being earliest: birth order and educational outcomes along the socioeconomic ladder in Mexico," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 1069-1099, July.
    3. Ronni Pavan, 2016. "On the Production of Skills and the Birth-Order Effect," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(3), pages 699-726.
    4. Baez, Javier E., 2008. "Does More Mean Better? Sibling Sex Composition and the Link between Family Size and Children’s Quality," IZA Discussion Papers 3472, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Dasgupta, Kabir & Solomon, Keisha T., 2018. "Family size effects on childhood obesity: Evidence on the quantity-quality trade-off using the NLSY," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 42-55.
    6. Michael Baker & Kevin Milligan, 2016. "Boy-Girl Differences in Parental Time Investments: Evidence from Three Countries," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(4), pages 399-441.
    7. V. Hotz & Juan Pantano, 2015. "Strategic parenting, birth order, and school performance," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(4), pages 911-936, October.
    8. Briole, Simon & Le Forner, Hélène & Lepinteur, Anthony, 2020. "Children’s socio-emotional skills: Is there a quantity–quality trade-off?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    9. Kyeongkuk Kim & Sang-Hyop Lee & Timothy J Halliday, 2018. "The Betrayed Generation? Intra-Household Transfers and Retirement Behavior in South Korea," Working Papers 201804, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    10. Quan-Hoang Vuong & Thanh-Hang Pham & Trung Tran & Thu-Trang Vuong & Nguyen Manh Cuong & Nguyen Phuc Khanh Linh & Viet-Phuong La & Manh Toan Ho, 2020. "STEM education and outcomes in Vietnam: Views from the social gap and gender issues," Working Papers CEB 20-003, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    11. Kim, Kyeongkuk & Lee, Sang-Hyop & Halliday, Timothy J., 2021. "Intra-familial transfers, son preference, and retirement behavior in South Korea," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    12. Richard Akresh & Emilie Bagby & Damien de Walque & Harounan Kazianga, 2012. "Child Ability and Household Human Capital Investment Decisions in Burkina Faso," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(1), pages 157-186.
    13. Bu, Feifei, 2014. "Sibling configurations, educational aspiration and attainment," ISER Working Paper Series 2014-11, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    14. Eiji Yamamura, 2015. "Effects of Siblings and Birth Order on Income Redistribution Preferences: Evidence Based on Japanese General Social Survey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 121(2), pages 589-606, April.
    15. Hongbin Li & Junsen Zhang & Yi Zhu, 2008. "The quantity-Quality trade-Off of children In a developing country: Identification using chinese twins," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 45(1), pages 223-243, February.
    16. Xiaoyu Wu & Lixing Li, 2012. "Family size and maternal health: evidence from the One-Child policy in China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 25(4), pages 1341-1364, October.
    17. Christina J. Diaz & Jeremy E. Fiel, 2021. "When Size Matters: IV Estimates of Sibship Size on Educational Attainment in the U.S," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(6), pages 1195-1220, December.
    18. Kabir Dasgupta & Keisha T.-Solomon, 2017. "Family Size Effects on Child Health: Evidence on the Quantity-Quality Trade-off using the NLSY," Working Papers 2017-04, Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics.
    19. Ho, Manh-Toan & La, Viet-Phuong & Nguyen, Minh-Hoang & Pham, Thanh-Hang & Vuong, Thu-Trang & Vuong, Ha-My & Pham, Hung-Hiep & Hoang, Anh-Duc & Vuong, Quan-Hoang, 2020. "An analytical view on STEM education and outcomes: Examples of the social gap and gender disparity in Vietnam," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    20. Monfardini, Chiara & See, Sarah Grace, 2012. "Birth Order and Child Outcomes: Does Maternal Quality Time Matter?," IZA Discussion Papers 6825, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Birth order; Managerial position; Family size; IQ; I00; L10; L60;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I00 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General - - - General
    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:atlecj:v:43:y:2015:i:4:p:463-476. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.