Education, Birth Order, and Family Size

47 Pages Posted: 8 Jun 2013 Last revised: 20 Sep 2024

See all articles by Jesper Bagger

Jesper Bagger

University of London, Royal Holloway College - Department of Economics

Javier Arturo Birchenall

University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) - Department of Economics

Hani Mansour

University of Colorado at Denver - Department of Economics

Sergio Urzua

Northwestern University

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Date Written: June 2013

Abstract

We introduce a general framework to analyze the trade-off between education and family size. Our framework incorporates parental preferences for birth order and delivers theoretically consistent birth order and family size effects on children's educational attainment. We develop an empirical strategy to identify these effects. We show that the coefficient on family size in a regression of educational attainment on birth order and family size does not identify the family size effect as defined within our framework, even when the endogeneity of both birth order and family size are properly accounted for. Using Danish administrative data we test the theoretical implications of the model. The data does not reject our theory. We find significant birth order and family size effects in individuals' years of education thereby confirming the presence of a quantity-quality trade off.

Suggested Citation

Bagger, Jesper and Birchenall, Javier Arturo and Mansour, Hani and Urzua, Sergio Samuel, Education, Birth Order, and Family Size (June 2013). NBER Working Paper No. w19111, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2276373

Jesper Bagger (Contact Author)

University of London, Royal Holloway College - Department of Economics ( email )

Royal Holloway College
Egham
Surrey, Surrey TW20 0EX
United Kingdom

Javier Arturo Birchenall

University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) - Department of Economics ( email )

2127 North Hall
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
United States

Hani Mansour

University of Colorado at Denver - Department of Economics ( email )

Campus Box 181
P.O. Box 173364
Denver, CO 80218
United States

Sergio Samuel Urzua

Northwestern University ( email )

2001 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208
United States

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