Full Citation
Title: Birth Order and Public Investments: Evidence from the United States, 1900-1940
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2022
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI:
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: A growing literature demonstrates that birth order affects educational attainment, but the impact of public policy on sibling inequality remains largely unknown. Using linked historical Census data and a family fixed effects model, we examine the impact of birth order for U.S. boys born during the late 1800s and early 1900s, a period of increased public investment in education. Consistent with evidence from recent cohorts in the U.S. and Western Europe, we find that men's educational attainment declines with birth order. Later-born boys obtain 0.2-0.6 years (3-7 percent) fewer years of education than their firstborn brothers. Among whites, later-born boys also have lower earnings and occupation scores. Next, exploiting variation in compulsory schooling laws across states and time, we show that laws requiring eight or more years of schooling substantially compress birth order gaps in educational attainment between white brothers born outside the South.
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Cools, Angela; O'Keefe, Siobhan
Publisher:
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Education, Family and Marriage
Countries: