Does Fortune Favor Dragons?
Posted: 4 Nov 2010 Last revised: 20 Mar 2012
Date Written: November 3, 2010
Abstract
Why do seemingly irrational superstitions persist? We analyze the widely held belief among Asians that children born in the Year of the dragon are superior. We use pooled cross section data from the U.S. Current Population Survey to show that Asian immigrants to the United States born in the 1976 year of the dragon are more educated than comparable immigrants from non-dragon years. In contrast, no such educational effect is noticeable for dragon-year children in the general U.S. population. We also provide evidence that Asian mothers of dragon year babies are more educated, richer, and slightly older than Asian mothers of non-dragon year children. This suggests that belief in the greater superiority of dragon-year children is self-fulfilling since the demographic characteristics associated with parents who are more willing and able to adjust their birthing strategies to have dragon children are also correlated with greater investment in their human capital.
Keywords: Family Planning, Human Capital, Superstition, Preference Formation
JEL Classification: J13, J24, Z13
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
George Mason University - Department of Economics ( email )
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George Mason University - Mercatus Center
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John V. C. Nye
George Mason University - Department of Economics ( email )
4400 University Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
United States
703-993-4272 (Phone)
National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow)
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Russia