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First come, first served? Birth order effects on child height in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2019

Rajan Bishwakarma  and
Kira M. Villa
Rajan Bishwakarma*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of New Mexico, 1915 Roma Ave. NE 1019, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA
Kira M. Villa
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of New Mexico, 1915 Roma Ave. NE 1019, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

We examine the birth order effects on health status for a sample of children aged 1–18 years in South Africa. Using a mother fixed-effects specification, we observe children's height-for-age z-score decreases with birth order. We investigate potential mechanisms underlying the birth order effect including those related to biology, parental preferences, and resource dilution. We also look at whether these effects are due to selection into families of different sizes. We find that the magnitude of the effect is larger in poorer and rural households and in larger families – suggesting that the birth order effect is largely due to resource dilution in economically constrained households.

Keywords

Birth orderchild healthdeveloping countryresource dilutionSouth Africa

JEL classification

O15: Human Resources • Human Development • Income Distribution • Migration I12: Health Behavior J13: Fertility • Family Planning • Child Care • Children • Youth
Type
Research Papers
Information
Journal of Demographic Economics , Volume 85 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 71 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain 2019 

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