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The Importance of Being Wanted

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  • Quy-Toan Do
  • Tung Duc 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 2 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 benefitting from a more favorable growth environment. [BREAD Working Paper No. 225]

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  • Quy-Toan Do & Tung Duc Phung, 2010. "The Importance of Being Wanted," Working Papers id:2515, eSocialSciences.
    • Handle: RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2515
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    2. Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Hiraga, Masako & Viet Nguyen, Cuong, 2022. "Childcare and maternal employment: Evidence from Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    3. Monica Das Gupta, 2014. "Population, Poverty, and Climate Change," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 29(1), pages 83-108.
    4. Laura Rodríguez, 2022. "Violence and newborn health: Estimates for Colombia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 112-136, January.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. Nguyen, Cuong, 2017. "Does Your Birthdate Tell Your Future? Evidence from Vietnam," MPRA Paper 81826, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. 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.
    12. Jan Fidrmuc & J. D. Tena, 2015. "Friday the 13th: The Empirics of Bad Luck," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 317-334, August.
    13. 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.
    14. 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).
    15. 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.
    16. 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).
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Miller, Ray, 2017. "Childhood Health and Prenatal Exposure to Seasonal Food Scarcity in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 350-376.
    20. 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.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    vietnam; gender-specific; cohorts; birth; auspicious; marriage; american; women; pregnancy; family; Vietnamese; fertility; crime; socioeconomic; health; height; age; parents; sex; Astrology; census; growth; environment; children; child; birth; planning; childwantedness; schooling; horoscope; superstition;
    All these keywords.

    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

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