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The Impact of Family Composition on Educational Achievement

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Abstract

Parents preferring sons tend to go on to have more children un- til one or more boys are born, and to concentrate investment in boys for a given sibsize. Therefore, having a brother may affect child outcomes in two ways: indirectly, by decreasing sibsize, and directly, where sibsize remains constant. We develop an identi- fication strategy that allows us to separate these two effects. We then apply this to capture the heterogeneous effects of male siblings in both direct and indirect channels, using 0.8 million Taiwanese first-borns. Our empirical evidence indicates that neither effect is important in explaining first-born boys' education levels. In con- trast, both effects for first-born girls are evident but go in opposite directions, resulting in a near-zero total effect which has previously been a measure of gender bias. These results offer new evidence of sibling rivalry and gender bias in family settings that has not been detected in the literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Stacey H. Chen & Yen-Chien Chen & Jin-Tan Liu, 2013. "The Impact of Family Composition on Educational Achievement," IEAS Working Paper : academic research 13-A013, Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, revised Aug 2014.
    • Handle: RePEc:sin:wpaper:13-a013
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    Cited by:

    1. Futing Chen & Cuntong Wang & Yihe WangDing, 2024. "The Interplay of Sibling Sex Composition, Son Preference, and Child Education in China: Evidence from the One-Child Policy," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(5), pages 1-31, October.
    2. Fujimoto, Junichi & Meng, Xiangcai, 2019. "Curse or blessing: Investigating the education and income of firstborns and only boys," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Viviana Celli, 2019. "Causal Mediation Analysis in Economics: objectives, assumptions, models," Working Papers 12/19, Sapienza University of Rome, DISS.
    4. Martin Huber & Mark Schelker & Anthony Strittmatter, 2022. "Direct and Indirect Effects based on Changes-in-Changes," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(1), pages 432-443, January.
    5. Bhattacharjee, Shampa & Roy Chaudhuri, Arka, 2024. "Life in pairs: Estimating the impact of twin’s sex on child survival in India," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    6. Andrea Salustri & Valeria De Bonis & Maria Alessandra Antonelli & Angelo Castaldo, 2023. "Poverty and social exclusion: which relationship with non-traditional household models?," Public Finance Research Papers 58, Istituto di Economia e Finanza, DSGE, Sapienza University of Rome.
    7. Bingzheng Chen & Peiyun Deng & Xiaodong Fan, 2022. "Effect of compulsory education on retirement financial outcomes: evidence from China," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(4), pages 958-989, October.
    8. Jane N. O’Sullivan, 2023. "Demographic Delusions: World Population Growth Is Exceeding Most Projections and Jeopardising Scenarios for Sustainable Futures," World, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-24, September.
    9. Maria Alessandra Antonelli & Valeria De Bonis, 2021. "Economic Poverty: Does the Break-Up of Families Matter?," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-20, June.
    10. Yuval Mazar & Uri Zilber, 2019. "Brothers vs. Sisters: The Effect of Siblings' Gender on an Individual's Labor Market Performance," Bank of Israel Working Papers 2019.16, Bank of Israel.
    11. Marie-Claire Robitaille & Joniada Milla, 2024. "Son Targeting Fertility Behaviour in Albania," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(8), pages 1246-1265, August.
    12. Xiaoyan Lei & Yan Shen & James P. Smith & Guangsu Zhou, 2017. "Sibling gender composition’s effect on education: evidence from China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 569-590, April.
    13. Peter, Noemi & Lundborg, Petter & Webbink, Dinand, 2015. "The Effect of a Sibling's Gender on Earnings, Education and Family Formation," IZA Discussion Papers 9128, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Collins, Matthew, 2022. "Sibling Gender, Inheritance Customs and Educational Attainment: Evidence from Matrilineal and Patrilineal Societies," Working Papers 2022:5, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    15. Liu, Xiangbo & Sun, Zhiying & Tang, Daisheng & Chu, Shuai, 2025. "Relaxation of fertility restrictions, sibling composition and gender gap in education: Evidence from China’s 1.5-child policy," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    16. Salm, Martin & Siflinger, Bettina & Xie, Mingjia, 2021. "The Effect of Retirement on Mental Health: Indirect Treatment Effects and Causal Mediation," Other publications TiSEM e28efa7f-8219-437c-a26d-2, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    17. Bora Kim, 2022. "On the Use of Instrumental Variables in Mediation Analysis," Papers 2201.12752, arXiv.org.
    18. Jianxun Lyu, 2025. "Optimal sequential fertility choices under discriminatory preferences," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-51, March.
    19. Meng-Wen Tsou & Jin-Tan Liu & James K. Hammitt & Chyi-Horng Lu & Szu-Yu Zoe Kao, 2020. "The effect of prenatal exposure to radiation on birth outcomes: exploiting a natural experiment in Taiwan," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 71(3), pages 379-403, July.
    20. Guo, Hao & Hu, Chenxu & Ding, Xiaozhou, 2022. "Son preference, intrahousehold discrimination, and the gender gap in education in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 324-339.
    21. Elliott Fan & Jin-Tan Liu & Yen-Chien Chen, 2017. "Is the Quarter of Birth Endogenous? New Evidence from Taiwan, the US, and Indonesia," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(6), pages 1087-1124, December.
    22. Bao, Te & Yuan, Yuemei & Luo, Weidong & Xu, Bin, 2024. "Unlucky to have brothers: Sibling sex composition and girls’ locus of control," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • R20 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - General

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