IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejapp/v2y2010i4p236-53.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Importance of Being Wanted

Author

Listed:
  • Quy-Toan Do
  • Tung D. Phung

Abstract

We identify birth wantedness as a source of better child outcomes. In Vietnam, the year of birth is widely believed to determine success. As a result, cohorts born in auspicious years are 12 percent larger. Comparing siblings with one another, those of auspicious cohorts are found to have two extra months of schooling. The Vietnamese horoscope being gender-specific, this difference will be shown to be driven by birth planning. Children born in auspicious years are more likely to have been planned, thus benefiting from a more favorable growth environment. (JEL J12, J13, O15, P23, Z13)

Suggested Citation

  • Quy-Toan Do & Tung D. Phung, 2010. "The Importance of Being Wanted," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 236-253, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:2:y:2010:i:4:p:236-53
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.2.4.236
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.4.236
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2009-0196_data.zip
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sheshinski, Eytan & Weiss, Yoram, 1982. "Inequality within and between Families," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(1), pages 105-127, February.
    2. Wagstaff, Adam & van Doorslaer, Eddy & Watanabe, Naoko, 2003. "On decomposing the causes of health sector inequalities with an application to malnutrition inequalities in Vietnam," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 207-223, January.
    3. John J. Donohue III & Steven D. Levitt, 2001. "The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(2), pages 379-420.
    4. 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.
    5. Theodore Joyce & Michael Grossman, 1990. "Pregnancy wantedness and the early initiation of prenatal care," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 27(1), pages 1-17, February.
    6. John Cawley & Feng Liu, 2007. "Mechanisms for the Association Between Maternal Employment and Child Cognitive Development," NBER Working Papers 13609, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Daron Acemoglu & David H. Autor & David Lyle, 2004. "Women, War, and Wages: The Effect of Female Labor Supply on the Wage Structure at Midcentury," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(3), pages 497-551, June.
    8. 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.
    9. Duncan Thomas, 1994. "Like Father, like Son; Like Mother, like Daughter: Parental Resources and Child Height," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 29(4), pages 950-988.
    10. Jonathan Gruber & Phillip Levine & Douglas Staiger, 1999. "Abortion Legalization and Child Living Circumstances: Who is the "Marginal Child"?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 263-291.
    11. Behrman, Jere R & Birdsall, Nancy M, 1988. "The Reward for Good Timing: Cohort Effects and Earnings Functions for Brazilian Males," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(1), pages 129-135, February.
    12. Behrman, Jere R & Pollak, Robert A & Taubman, Paul, 1982. "Parental Preferences and Provision for Progeny," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(1), pages 52-73, February.
    13. Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz, 2002. "The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women's Career and Marriage Decisions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(4), pages 730-770, August.
    14. Rose, Elaina, 2000. "Gender Bias, Credit Constraints and Time Allocation in Rural India," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(465), pages 738-758, July.
    15. Rosenzweig, Mark R & Wolpin, Kenneth I, 1980. "Testing the Quantity-Quality Fertility Model: The Use of Twins as a Natural Experiment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(1), pages 227-240, January.
    16. Cristian Pop-Eleches, 2006. "The Impact of an Abortion Ban on Socioeconomic Outcomes of Children: Evidence from Romania," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(4), pages 744-773, August.
    17. Rosenzweig, Mark R, 1986. "Birth Spacing and Sibling Inequality: Asymmetric Information within the Family," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 27(1), pages 55-76, February.
    18. Jungmin Lee & Myungho Paik, 2006. "Sex preferences and fertility in South Korea during the year of the horse," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(2), pages 269-292, May.
    19. James P. Vere, 2008. "Dragon Children: Identifying the Causal Effect of the First Child on Female Labour Supply with the Chinese Lunar Calendar," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(3), pages 303-325, June.
    20. Behrman, Jere R & Pollak, Robert A & Taubman, Paul, 1986. "Do Parents Favor Boys?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 27(1), pages 33-54, February.
    21. Mark R. Rosenzweig & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 1993. "Maternal Expectations and Ex Post Rationalizations: The Usefulness of Survey Information on the Wantedness of Children," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 28(2), pages 205-229.
    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. Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Hiraga, Masako & Viet Nguyen, Cuong, 2022. "Childcare and maternal employment: Evidence from Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    2. Habtamu Beshir & Jean-Francois Maystadt, 2016. "In utero seasonal food insecurity and cognitive development: Evidence from Ethiopia," Working Papers 157856919, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    3. Jan Fidrmuc & J. D. Tena, 2015. "Friday the 13th: The Empirics of Bad Luck," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 317-334, August.
    4. Monica Das Gupta, 2014. "Population, Poverty, and Climate Change," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 29(1), pages 83-108.
    5. Chih Ming Tan & Xiao Wang & Xiaobo Zhang, 2024. "It's all in the stars: The Chinese zodiac and the effects of parental investments on offspring's cognitive and noncognitive skill development," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(3), pages 877-920, July.
    6. Rodrigo Azuero Melo, 2014. "Wealth and the Construction of Non-Cognitive Skills. The Case of Colombia," Documentos CEDE 11950, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    7. Phung, T.D. & Hardeweg, B. & Praneetvatakul, S. & Waibel, H., 2015. "Non-Sampling Error and Data Quality: What Can We Learn from Surveys to Collect Data for Vulnerability Measurements?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 25-35.
    8. Miller, Ray, 2017. "Childhood Health and Prenatal Exposure to Seasonal Food Scarcity in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 350-376.
    9. Nguyen, Cuong, 2017. "Does Your Birthdate Tell Your Future? Evidence from Vietnam," MPRA Paper 81826, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. McCarthy, Aine Seitz, 2019. "Intimate partner violence and family planning decisions: Experimental evidence from rural Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 156-174.
    11. Johnson, Noel D. & Nye, John V.C., 2011. "Does fortune favor dragons?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 78(1-2), pages 85-97, April.
    12. Almond, Douglas & Chee, Christine Pal & Sviatschi, Maria Micaela & Zhong, Nan, 2015. "Auspicious birth dates among Chinese in California," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 153-159.
    13. Cuong Viet Nguyen, 2018. "The long-term effects of mistimed pregnancy on children’s education and employment," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(3), pages 937-968, July.
    14. Yan Lau, 2019. "The dragon cohort of Hong Kong: traditional beliefs, demographics, and education," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(1), pages 219-246, January.
    15. Wanchuan Lin & Juan Pantano & Shuqiao Sun, 2020. "Birth order and unwanted fertility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(2), pages 413-440, April.
    16. Andy L. Chou, 2022. "Fortunes and misfortunes of the dragon sons: Direct and cohort effects of superstition on education attainment," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(4), pages 564-579, November.
    17. Pham, Dai Van, 2024. "The effects of superstition on firms' investment behavior: Evidence from Vietnam, an irreligious country✰," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 1-27.
    18. Laura Rodríguez, 2022. "Violence and newborn health: Estimates for Colombia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 112-136, January.
    19. Beam, Emily A. & Shrestha, Slesh, 2016. "Inter-ethnic Fertility Spillovers and the Role of Forward-looking Behavior: Evidence from Peninsular Malaysia," IZA Discussion Papers 10385, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Habtamu Ali Beshir & Jean-François Maystadt, 2022. "Price shocks and human capital: Timing matters," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2022020, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).

    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. Damian Clarke, 2018. "Children And Their Parents: A Review Of Fertility And Causality," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 518-540, April.
    2. Schultz, T. Paul, 2008. "Population Policies, Fertility, Women's Human Capital, and Child Quality," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 52, pages 3249-3303, Elsevier.
    3. Wanchuan Lin & Juan Pantano & Shuqiao Sun, 2020. "Birth order and unwanted fertility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(2), pages 413-440, April.
    4. Valente, Christine, 2014. "Access to abortion, investments in neonatal health, and sex-selection: Evidence from Nepal," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 225-243.
    5. Grant Miller, 2005. "Contraception as Development? New Evidence from Family Planning in Colombia," NBER Working Papers 11704, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Wanchuan Lin & Juan Pantano, 2015. "The unintended: negative outcomes over the life cycle," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(2), pages 479-508, April.
    7. Li, Bingjing & Zhang, Hongliang, 2017. "Does population control lead to better child quality? Evidence from China’s one-child policy enforcement," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 246-260.
    8. Pekkala, Sari, 2003. "Is Little Brother Nothing but Trouble?: Educational Attainment, Returns to Schooling and Sibling Structure," Discussion Papers 302, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Gábor Hajdu & Tamás Hajdu, 2021. "The long-term impact of restricted access to abortion on children’s socioeconomic outcomes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-14, March.
    10. Michele Giannola, 2024. "Parental Investments and Intra-household Inequality in Child Human Capital: Evidence from a Survey Experiment," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(658), pages 671-727.
    11. Steven J. Haider & Kathleen McGarry, 2018. "Parental Investments in College and Later Cash Transfers," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(5), pages 1705-1725, October.
    12. Wang, Qingfeng, 2018. "Son Preference and Human Capital," MPRA Paper 95411, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Aug 2019.
    13. Wookun Kim, 2023. "Baby Bonus, Fertility, and Missing Women," Departmental Working Papers 2308, Southern Methodist University, Department of Economics.
    14. Jere R. Behrman, 1994. "Intra-family Distribution in Developing Countries," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 253-296.
    15. Martha Bailey & Olga Malkova & Zoë M. McLaren, 2017. "Does Parents' Access to Family Planning Increase Children's Opportunities? Evidence from the War on Poverty and the Early Years of Title X," Working Papers 2017-083, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    16. Jere Behrman, 1987. "Is Child Schooling A Poor Proxy for Child Quality?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 24(3), pages 341-359, August.
    17. Grant Miller, 2005. "Contraception as Development? New Evidence from Family Planning in Colombia," CID Working Papers 9, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    18. Libertad González & Sergi Jiménez-Martín & Natalia Nollenberger & Judit Vall Castello, 2018. "The Effect of Abortion Legalization on Fertility, Marriage and Long-term Outcomes for Women," Studies on the Spanish Economy eee2018-08, FEDEA.
    19. Timothy J. Hatton & Richard M. Martin, 2010. "The effects on stature of poverty, family size, and birth order: British children in the 1930s," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 62(1), pages 157-184, January.
    20. Chen Cheng & Chou Shin-Yi & Wang Cheng & Zhao Wangyang, 2020. "The Effect of the Second Child on the Anthropometric Outcomes and Nutrition Intake of the First Child: Evidence from the Relaxation of the One-Child Policy in Rural China," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(1), pages 1-28, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • P23 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Factor and Product Markets; Industry Studies; Population
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. The Importance of Being Wanted (American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2010) in ReplicationWiki

    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:aea:aejapp:v:2:y:2010:i:4:p:236-53. 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: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    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.