Sibling Rivalry: A Look at Switzerland with PISA Data

33 Pages Posted: 22 Oct 2002

See all articles by Stefan C. Wolter

Stefan C. Wolter

Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education (SKBF); University of Bern - Department of Economics

Maja Coradi Vellacott

Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education; University of Zurich

Date Written: October 2002

Abstract

In this paper we analyse the sibling size and birth-order effect on educational achievement in Switzerland on the basis of PISA data. We find an overall modest size and birth-order effect. The sibling size effect, however, is a product of a substantial and significant negative size effect for families with lower socio-economic status and foreign origin and a positive sibling size effect in small, native families with a high socio-economic status compared to singlechild families with the same background. Thus, subgroups of the population seem to be confronted with binding budget constraints, although education is free. The hypothesis that parents of larger families spend on average less time with their children is also tested and shows the expected negative effect of the sibling size. We present an extended version of the sibling size model that can account for these effects and discuss the consequences these results might have for social and educational policy.

Keywords: Education, Parental Background, Sibling Size, Birth-order

JEL Classification: D1, I2, J2

Suggested Citation

Wolter, Stefan C. and Coradi Vellacott, Maja, Sibling Rivalry: A Look at Switzerland with PISA Data (October 2002). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=341502 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.341502

Stefan C. Wolter (Contact Author)

Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education (SKBF) ( email )

CH - 5000 Aarau
Switzerland
+41 62 835 23 90 (Phone)
+41 62 835 23 99 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.skbf-csre.ch

University of Bern - Department of Economics ( email )

Gesellschaftstrasse 49
Bern, CH-3012
Switzerland
+41 31 631 40 95 (Phone)
+41 31 631 39 92 (Fax)

Maja Coradi Vellacott

Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education ( email )

Francke-Gut
Entfelderstrasse 61
CH-5000 Aarau
Switzerland

HOME PAGE: http://agora.unige.ch/csre/info/team/mc.html

University of Zurich

Rämistrasse 71
Zürich, CH-8006
Switzerland

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