IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/demogr/v54y2017i2d10.1007_s13524-017-0550-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Long-Term Cognitive and Socioeconomic Consequences of Birth Intervals: A Within-Family Sibling Comparison Using Swedish Register Data

Author

Listed:
  • Kieron J. Barclay

    (London School of Economics and Political Science
    Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
    Stockholm University)

  • Martin Kolk

    (Stockholm University
    Stockholm University
    Institute for Futures Studies)

Abstract

We examine the relationship between birth-to-birth intervals and a variety of mid- and long-term cognitive and socioeconomic outcomes, including high school GPA, cognitive ability, educational attainment, earnings, unemployment status, and receiving government welfare support. Using contemporary Swedish population register data and a within-family sibling comparison design, we find that neither the birth interval preceding the index person nor the birth interval following the index person are associated with any substantively meaningful changes in mid- or long-term outcomes. This is true even for individuals born before or after birth-to-birth intervals of less than 12 months. We conclude that in a contemporary high-income welfare state, there appears to be no relationship between unusually short or long birth intervals and adverse long-term outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Kieron J. Barclay & Martin Kolk, 2017. "The Long-Term Cognitive and Socioeconomic Consequences of Birth Intervals: A Within-Family Sibling Comparison Using Swedish Register Data," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(2), pages 459-484, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:54:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s13524-017-0550-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-017-0550-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13524-017-0550-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13524-017-0550-x?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. Bhalotra, Sonia & Soest, Arthur van, 2008. "Birth-spacing, fertility and neonatal mortality in India: Dynamics, frailty, and fecundity," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 143(2), pages 274-290, April.
    2. 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.
    3. Sonia Bhalotra & Arthur van Soest, 2004. "Birth Spacing and Neonatal Mortality in India: Dynamics, Frailty and Fecundity," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 04/567, School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
    4. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2007. "From the Cradle to the Labor Market? The Effect of Birth Weight on Adult Outcomes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(1), pages 409-439.
    5. Bratti, Massimiliano & Mendola, Mariapia, 2014. "Parental health and child schooling," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 94-108.
    6. Pettersson-Lidbom, Per & Skogman Thoursie, Peter, 2009. "Does child spacing affect children’s outcomes? Evidence from a Swedish reform," Working Paper Series 2009:7, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    7. 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.
    8. Modin, Bitte & Koupil, Ilona & Vågerö, Denny, 2009. "The impact of early twentieth century illegitimacy across three generations. Longevity and intergenerational health correlates," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(9), pages 1633-1640, May.
    9. Stafford, Frank P, 1987. "Women's Work, Sibling Competition, and Children's School Performance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 972-980, December.
    10. Reilly, Siobhan & Evenhouse, Eirik, 2005. "Improved estimates of the benefits of breastfeeding using sibling comparisons to reduce selection bias," MPRA Paper 13434, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Whitworth, Alison & Stephenson, Rob, 2002. "Birth spacing, sibling rivalry and child mortality in India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(12), pages 2107-2119, December.
    12. Kasey S. Buckles & Elizabeth L. Munnich, 2012. "Birth Spacing and Sibling Outcomes," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(3), pages 613-642.
    13. Siân Curtis & Ian Diamond & John McDonald, 1993. "Birth interval and family effects on postneonatal mortality in Brazil," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 30(1), pages 33-43, February.
    14. Gunnar Andersson & Jan M. Hoem & Ann-Zofie Duvander, 2006. "Social differentials in speed-premium effects in childbearing in Sweden," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 14(4), pages 51-70.
    15. Colen, Cynthia G. & Ramey, David M., 2014. "Is breast truly best? Estimating the effects of breastfeeding on long-term child health and wellbeing in the United States using sibling comparisons," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 55-65.
    16. repec:ucn:wpaper:10197/317 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Gunnar Andersson, 2002. "Fertility developments in Norway and Sweden since the early 1960s," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 6(4), pages 67-86.
    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. Kieron Barclay & Anna Baranowska-Rataj & Martin Kolk & Anneli Ivarsson, 2020. "Interpregnancy intervals and perinatal and child health in Sweden: A comparison within families and across social groups," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 74(3), pages 363-378, September.
    2. Daniel Fellman & Richard Bränström & Agneta Herlitz, 2021. "Revisiting a basic question: does growing up in either female or male environment affect sex differences in academic strengths and occupational choices?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Rachel Dunifon & Paula Fomby & Kelly Musick, 2017. "Siblings and children's time use in the United States," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(49), pages 1611-1624.
    4. Joseph Molitoris & Kieron J. Barclay & Martin Kolk, 2018. "When birth spacing does and does not matter for child survival: an international comparison using the DHS," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2018-003, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    5. Joseph Molitoris & Kieron Barclay & Martin Kolk, 2019. "When and Where Birth Spacing Matters for Child Survival: An International Comparison Using the DHS," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(4), pages 1349-1370, August.
    6. Aditi Dimri & Véronique Gille & Philipp Ketz, 2021. "Measuring sex-selective abortion: How many women abort?," PSE Working Papers halshs-03495964, HAL.
    7. Øystein Kravdal, 2019. "Taking birth year into account when analysing effects of maternal age on child health and other outcomes: The value of a multilevel-multiprocess model compared to a sibling model," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(43), pages 1249-1290.
    8. Kieron J. Barclay & Martin Kolk, 2018. "Birth Intervals and Health in Adulthood: A Comparison of Siblings Using Swedish Register Data," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(3), pages 929-955, June.
    9. Kieron J. Barclay & Ken R. Smith, 2020. "The effects of birth spacing on health and socioeconomic outcomes across the life course: evidence from the Utah Population Database," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2020-038, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    10. Christopher D. Smith & Jonas Helgertz & Kirk Scott, 2019. "Time and Generation: Parents’ Integration and Children’s School Performance in Sweden, 1989–2011," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(4), pages 719-750, October.
    11. Øystein Kravdal, 2020. "Are sibling models a suitable tool in analyses of how reproductive factors affect child mortality?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 42(28), pages 777-798.
    12. Limor Gabay-Egozi & Lloyd Grieger & Natalie Nitsche, 2020. "In my brother’s footstep or shadow? Siblings’ compositional characteristics and gender differences in STEM major," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2020-031, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.

    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. van Soest, A.H.O. & Saha, U.R., 2012. "Birth Spacing, Child Survival and Fertility Decisions : Analysis of Causal Mechanismsa," Discussion Paper 2012-018, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    2. Kieron J. Barclay & Martin Kolk, 2018. "Birth Intervals and Health in Adulthood: A Comparison of Siblings Using Swedish Register Data," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(3), pages 929-955, June.
    3. Saha, U.R., 2012. "Econometric models of child mortality dynamics in rural Bangladesh," Other publications TiSEM f734b639-9696-480e-96f0-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Nancy Qian, 2009. "Quantity-Quality and the One Child Policy:The Only-Child Disadvantage in School Enrollment in Rural China," NBER Working Papers 14973, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Ghosh, Prabhat & Kochar, Anjini, 2018. "Do welfare programs work in weak states? Why? Evidence from a maternity support program in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 191-208.
    6. Schultz, T. Paul, 2010. "Population and Health Policies," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4785-4881, Elsevier.
    7. 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.
    8. Anna Baranowska-Rataj & Xavier de Luna & Anneli Ivarsson, 2016. "Does the number of siblings affect health in midlife? Evidence from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(43), pages 1259-1302.
    9. Åslund, Olof & Grönqvist, Hans, 2010. "Family size and child outcomes: Is there really no trade-off?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 130-139, January.
    10. Saha, U.R. & van Soest, A.H.O., 2009. "Infant Mortality in Rural Bangladesh : State Dependence vs. Unobserved Heterogeneity," Other publications TiSEM c6939d37-f018-49e2-bc6e-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Kieron Barclay & Torkild Lyngstad & Dalton Conley, 2018. "The Production of Inequalities within Families and Across Generations: The Intergenerational Effects of Birth Order and Family Size on Educational Attainment," NBER Working Papers 24530, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Bas Klaauw & Limin Wang, 2011. "Child mortality in rural India," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(2), pages 601-628, April.
    13. Nils Braakmann & John Wildman, 2014. "Reconsidering the impact of family size on labour supply: The twin-problems of the twin-birth instrument," Working Paper Series in Economics 316, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    14. Joseph Molitoris & Kieron J. Barclay & Martin Kolk, 2018. "When birth spacing does and does not matter for child survival: an international comparison using the DHS," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2018-003, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    15. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2010. "Small Family, Smart Family? Family Size and the IQ Scores of Young Men," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(1).
    16. Masaru Nagashima & Chikako Yamauchi, 2023. "Pregnant in haste? The impact of foetus loss on birth spacing and the role of subjective probabilistic beliefs," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1409-1431, December.
    17. Kieron J. Barclay & Torkild H. Lyngstad & Dalton Conley, 2018. "The production of inequalities within families and across generations: the intergenerational effects of birth order and family size on educational attainment," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2018-002, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    18. Duncan Pieterse, 2015. "Childhood Maltreatment and Educational Outcomes: Evidence from South Africa," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(7), pages 876-894, July.
    19. Mark R. Rosenzweig & Junsen Zhang, 2009. "Do Population Control Policies Induce More Human Capital Investment? Twins, Birth Weight and China's "One-Child" Policy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(3), pages 1149-1174.
    20. 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.

    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:spr:demogr:v:54:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s13524-017-0550-x. 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.