Birth Order and the Intrahousehold Allocation of Time and Education

Posted: 28 Mar 2005

See all articles by Mette Ejrnaes

Mette Ejrnaes

University of Copenhagen - Department of Economics

Claus C. Pörtner

Seattle University - Albers School of Business and Economics; Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

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Abstract

This paper develops a model of intrahousehold allocation with endogenous fertility, which captures the relationship between birth order and investment in children. It shows that a birth order effect in intrahousehold allocation can arise even without assumptions about parental preferences for specific birth orders of children or genetic endowments varying by birth order. The important contribution is that fertility is treated as endogenous, a possibility that other models of intrahousehold allocation have ignored. The implications of the model are that children with higher birth orders (that is, who are born later) have an advantage over siblings with lower birth orders, and that parents who are inequality-averse will not have more than one child. The model furthermore shows that not taking account of the endogeneity of fertility when analyzing intrahousehold allocation may seriously bias the results. The effects of a child's birth order on its human capital accumulation are analyzed using a longitudinal data set from the Philippines that covers a very long period. We examine the effects of birth order on both number of hours in school during education and completed education. The results for both are consistent with the predictions of the model.

JEL Classification: D1, I2, J2, O12

Suggested Citation

Ejrnes, Mette and Pörtner, Claus C., Birth Order and the Intrahousehold Allocation of Time and Education. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=659622

Mette Ejrnes

University of Copenhagen - Department of Economics ( email )

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Claus C. Pörtner (Contact Author)

Seattle University - Albers School of Business and Economics ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://www.clausportner.com

Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology ( email )

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