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Family size and educational attainment in England and Wales

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  • Tak Wing Chan
  • Morag Henderson
  • Rachel Stuchbury

Abstract

In this paper, we use linked census data from England and Wales to investigate whether having a large number of siblings leads to lower educational attainment. There is a large literature suggesting that with large sibship size, parental resources will be diluted and this, in turn, will lead to lower educational attainment. Using twin births and the sex composition of the sibling group as instrumental variables, we find that the evidence of a family size effect on educational attainment is rather uncertain. Similar results are obtained when we use occupational attainment as the dependent variable. We also demonstrate the confounding of birth order and family size effects, and show that an adjusted birth order index proposed by Booth and Kee provides an effective solution to this estimation problem.

Suggested Citation

  • Tak Wing Chan & Morag Henderson & Rachel Stuchbury, 2019. "Family size and educational attainment in England and Wales," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(2), pages 165-178, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rpstxx:v:73:y:2019:i:2:p:165-178
    DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2019.1577479
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    Cited by:

    1. Silvia H. Barcellos & Leandro Carvalho & Patrick Turley, 2021. "The Effect of Education on the Relationship between Genetics, Early-Life Disadvantages, and Later-Life SES," NBER Working Papers 28750, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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