Working Paper: NBER ID: w20443
Authors: Stacey H. Chen; Yenchien Chen; Jintan Liu
Abstract: Parents preferring sons tend to go on to have more children until a boy is born, and to concentrate investment in boys for a given number of children (sibsize). Thus, having a brother may affect child education in two ways: an indirect effect by keeping sibsize lower and a direct rivalry effect where sibsize remains constant. We estimate the direct and indirect effects of a next brother on the first child’s education conditional on potential sibsize. We address endogenous sibsize using twins. We find new evidence of sibling rivalry and gender bias that cannot be detected by conventional methods.
Keywords: family composition; educational achievement; sibling rivalry; gender bias; son preference
JEL Codes: I20; J13; J16; J24; O10; R20
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| having a brother (Y80) | educational attainment of firstborn daughters (I24) |
| reduction in potential sibling size due to the presence of a brother (J12) | high school completion for firstborn daughters (I21) |
| reduction in potential sibling size due to the presence of a brother (J12) | university enrollment for firstborn daughters (I23) |
| having a brother (Y80) | educational attainment of firstborn sons (I24) |