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On the Production of Skills and the Birth-Order Effect

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  • Ronni Pavan

Abstract

First-born children tend to outperform their younger siblings on measures such as cognitive exams, wages, educational attainment, and employment. Using a framework similar to Cunha and Heckman (2008) and Cunha, Heckman, and Schennach (2010), this paper finds that differences in parents’ investments across siblings can account for more than one-half of the gap in cognitive skills among siblings. The study’s framework accommodates for endogeneity in parents’ investments, measurement error, missing observations, and dynamic impacts of parental investments.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:51:y:2016:i:3:p:699-726
    Note: DOI: doi:10.3368/jhr.51.3.0913-5920R
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    Cited by:

    1. Elizabeth M. Caucutt & Lance Lochner & Youngmin Park, 2017. "Correlation, Consumption, Confusion, or Constraints: Why Do Poor Children Perform so Poorly?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(1), pages 102-147, January.
    2. Jorge Luis García & James J. Heckman, 2022. "Parenting Promotes Social Mobility Within and Across Generations," NBER Working Papers 30610, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Rita Ginja & Jenny Jans & Arizo Karimi, 2017. "Parental Investments in Early Life and Child Outcomes: Evidence from Swedish Parental Leave Rules," Working Papers 2017-085, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    4. Trisha Marie Vergara & Chris Feli Joy Tajonera, 2023. "Life Skills of Adolescents in a Catholic University in Central Philippines," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 44(1), pages 788-803, June.
    5. Pruckner, Gerald J. & Schneeweis, Nicole & Schober, Thomas & Zweimüller, Martina, 2021. "Birth order, parental health investment, and health in childhood," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    6. Joel Kaiyuan Han, 2022. "Parental involvement and neighborhood quality: evidence from public housing demolitions in Chicago," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1193-1238, December.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Nguyen, Ha Trong & Connelly, Luke & Le, Huong Thu & Mitrou, Francis & Taylor, Catherine & Zubrick, Stephen, 2018. "Explaining the evolution of ethnicity differentials in academic achievements: The role of time investments," MPRA Paper 90534, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Ha Trong Nguyen & Luke B. Connelly & Huong Thu Le & Francis Mitrou & Catherine L. Taylor & Stephen R. Zubrick, 2020. "Ethnicity differentials in academic achievements: the role of time investments," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1381-1418, October.
    11. Mikko Myrskylä & Julia Hellstrand & Sampo Lappo & Angelo Lorenti & Jessica Nisén & Ziwei Rao & Heikki Tikanmäki, 2024. "Declining fertility, human capital investment, and economic sustainability," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2024-002, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    12. Andersen, Dana C. & Gunes, Pinar Mine, 2023. "Birth Order Effects in the Developed and Developing World: Evidence from International Test Scores," IZA Discussion Papers 15931, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Gregory Cox, 2020. "Weak Identification with Bounds in a Class of Minimum Distance Models," Papers 2012.11222, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2022.
    14. 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.
    15. Houmark, Mikkel Aagaard, 2023. "First Among Equals? How Birth Order Shapes Child Development," MPRA Paper 119325, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Francisco J. Cabrera-Hernández & Pedro P. Orraca-Romano, 2023. "Inequality in the Household: How Parental Income Matters for the Long-Term Treatment of Healthy and Unhealthy Siblings," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 674-692, September.
    17. Cabrera-Hernandez, Francisco & Orraca-Romano, Pedro, 2021. "Inequality in the household: neonatal health effects on education outcomes and parents’ compensations among siblings," MPRA Paper 111076, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Emilia Del Bono & Josh Kinsler & Ronni Pavan, 2022. "Identification of dynamic latent factor models of skill formation with translog production," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(6), pages 1256-1265, September.
    19. Morabito, Christian & Van de gaer, Dirk & Figueroa, José Luis & Vandenbroeck, Michel, 2018. "Effects of high versus low-quality preschool education: A longitudinal study in Mauritius," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 126-137.
    20. Frida Skog, 2019. "Sibling Effects on Adult Earnings Among Poor and Wealthy Children Evidence from Sweden," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 12(3), pages 917-942, June.
    21. Rita Ginja & Jenny Jans & Arizo Karimi, 2020. "Parental Leave Benefits, Household Labor Supply, and Children’s Long-Run Outcomes," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(1), pages 261-320.
    22. Andra Hiriscau & Mihaela Pintea, 2022. "Birth Order, Socioeconomic Background and Educational Attainment," Working Papers 2203, Florida International University, Department of Economics.
    23. 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.

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