Older and Wiser? Birth Order and IQ of Young Men
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Black, Sandra E.
Devereux, Paul J.
Salvanes, Kjell G.
Abstract / Description
While recent research finds strong evidence that birth order affects children's outcomes such as education and earnings, the evidence on the effects of birth order on IQ is decidedly mixed. This paper uses a large dataset on the population of Norway that allows us to precisely measure birth order effects on IQ using both cross-sectional and within-family methods. Importantly, irrespective of method, we find a strong and significant effect of birth order on IQ, and our results suggest that earlier born children have higher IQs. Our preferred estimates suggest differences between first-borns and second-borns of about one fifth of a standard deviation or approximately 3 IQ points. Despite these large average effects, birth order only explains about 3% of the within-family variance of IQ. When we control for birth endowments, the estimated birth order effects increase. Thus, our analysis suggests that birth order effects are not biologically determined. Also, there is no evidence that birth order effects occur because later-born children are more affected by family breakdown.
Keyword(s)
Geschwisterreihe Intelligenzquotient Geschwisterreihe Intelligenzquotient birth order IQPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2007
Is part of series
Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;3007
Citation
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dp3007.pdfAdobe PDF - 322.8KBMD5: a01b00d3eb5b3f9a5a788a308c2d4227
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There are no other versions of this object.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Black, Sandra E.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Devereux, Paul J.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Salvanes, Kjell G.
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2022-11-17T11:03:08Z
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Made available on2008-06-03
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Made available on2015-12-01T10:32:09Z
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Made available on2022-11-17T11:03:08Z
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Date of first publication2007
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Abstract / DescriptionWhile recent research finds strong evidence that birth order affects children's outcomes such as education and earnings, the evidence on the effects of birth order on IQ is decidedly mixed. This paper uses a large dataset on the population of Norway that allows us to precisely measure birth order effects on IQ using both cross-sectional and within-family methods. Importantly, irrespective of method, we find a strong and significant effect of birth order on IQ, and our results suggest that earlier born children have higher IQs. Our preferred estimates suggest differences between first-borns and second-borns of about one fifth of a standard deviation or approximately 3 IQ points. Despite these large average effects, birth order only explains about 3% of the within-family variance of IQ. When we control for birth endowments, the estimated birth order effects increase. Thus, our analysis suggests that birth order effects are not biologically determined. Also, there is no evidence that birth order effects occur because later-born children are more affected by family breakdown.en
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Persistent Identifierhttps://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bsz:291-psydok-16290
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11780/1088
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.8979
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Language of contenteng
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Is part ofIZA Discussion Paper Series No. 3007
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Is part of seriesForschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;3007
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Keyword(s)Geschwisterreihede
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Keyword(s)Intelligenzquotientde
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Keyword(s)Geschwisterreihede
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Keyword(s)Intelligenzquotientde
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Keyword(s)birth orderen
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Keyword(s)IQen
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleOlder and Wiser? Birth Order and IQ of Young Menen
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DRO typereport
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Visible tag(s)PsyDok