Elder Siblings

Being the oldest of 10 children in an Irish-Catholic family I am always interested in the economics of family size.  (Of course it is all risk management—my mom and dad needed a good retirement system so they created their own social security system because they realized back in 1957 when they married that the government was just not going to be there when they needed it!)

Reuters reports that a study that is forthcoming in the Quarterly Journal of Economics entitled “The More the Merrier? The Effect of Family Size and Birth Order on Children's Education”
by Sandra E. Black, Paul J. Devereux and Kjell G. Salvanes shows 

 .. that younger siblings tend to get less schooling than their elders and then end up with lower pay on average and were more likely to be in part-time work…In terms of educational attainment, if you are the fourth born instead of the first, you get almost one year less education, and that is quite a lot.

Here is my family educational stats by birth order

1.  BA MA JD PhD (typical first born-enough said) 
2.  BA MA
3.  BA M.Ed.
4.  BA MA MA
5.  BS
6.  All but 6 credits towards a BA.  (he’s the black sheep!)
7.  BA, M.P.H.
8.  BS
9.  BA, M. Ed.
10. BS

Gosh—they are right the younger kids didn’t get nearly the education the older kids did! Age adjusted, though, the salary looks about the same in real dollars. However, the little kids had more fun because my parents were too tired to be strict with them.  Us older kids…., man, we had it bad and the little kids always got away with everything!

via HealthLaw Prof

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[E L Eversman]

Phillip Longman has written a book entitled,
"THE EMPTY CRADLE: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity And What to Do About It".

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0465050506/qid=1111070132/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-3409916-9166507

In the book, Longman discusses the impact declining birth rates have on programs like social security, and he discusses the economics of children (which, put that bluntly, sounds rather horrible).

So, with your family educational status on record, what's next for you oh-first-born-over-achiever? Just going to sit back with your MA, JD, PhD and rest on your laurels? Don't you think it's about time that you get out there and DO something with your life?

[David Giacalone]

What good is it having 9 younger siblings, if none of them stop by and leave annoying comments? Guess they'll leave it to guys like me (the youngest of three -- but only two minutes younger than #2).

Thanks for leaving all the space for doodling at the end of this post.