Explaining the Birth Order Effect: The Role of Prenatal and Early Childhood Investments

46 Pages Posted: 6 Oct 2012

See all articles by Jee-Yeon Lehmann

Jee-Yeon Lehmann

University of Houston

Ana Nuevo-Chiquero

University of Barcelona

Marian Vidal-Fernandez

IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor; The University of Sydney - School of Economics

Abstract

The critical role of prenatal and early childhood conditions on adult outcomes has been the focus of a rich body of research. In this paper, we examine various pre- and postnatal investments as possible sources behind the "birth order effect" – significant differences in the educational and labor market outcomes across children of varying birth orders. Taking advantage of a rich set of information on in utero and early childhood conditions in the Children of the NLSY79, we find that, within the same household, siblings of higher birth order experience a lower reduction in cigarette usage during pregnancy, are breastfed less often, and experience less cognitive stimulation and emotional support at ages 0 to 1. Next, we test for the presence of birth order effects in early cognitive and non-cognitive test scores and examine whether these differences can be explained by variations in prenatal and early childhood investments. Although there exists a significant negative relationship between birth order and early cognitive/non-cognitive test scores, the size and the significance of the negative birth order effects in test scores and educational attainment are robust to controlling for variations in early childhood factors.

Keywords: birth order, early test scores, parental investment, prenatal investment, postnatal investment, early childhood investment, fetal origins hypothesis, cognitive outcomes, non-cognitive outcomes

JEL Classification: J10, J13, I24

Suggested Citation

Lehmann, Jee-Yeon and Nuevo-Chiquero, Ana and Vidal-Fernandez, Marian and Vidal-Fernandez, Marian, Explaining the Birth Order Effect: The Role of Prenatal and Early Childhood Investments. IZA Discussion Paper No. 6755, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2157897 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2157897

Jee-Yeon Lehmann (Contact Author)

University of Houston ( email )

Houston, TX 77204-5882
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.uh.edu/~jlehman2/

Ana Nuevo-Chiquero

University of Barcelona ( email )

Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 585
Barcelona, 08007
Spain

Marian Vidal-Fernandez

IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

The University of Sydney - School of Economics ( email )

Rm 370 Merewether (H04)
The University of Sydney
Sydney, NSW 2006 2008
Australia

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