Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/90106 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 7679
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
While it is well known that birth order affects educational attainment, less is known about its effects on earnings. Using data from eleven European countries for males born between 1935 and 1956, we show that firstborns enjoy on average a 13.7 percent premium over laterborns in their wage at labour market entry. However, this advantage is short lived, and disappears by age 30, between 10 and 15 years after labour market entry. While firstborns start with a better match, partly because of their higher education, laterborns quickly catch up by switching earlier and more frequently to better paying jobs. We argue that a key factor driving our findings is that laterborns are more likely to engage in risky behaviours.
Subjects: 
birth order
earnings
risk aversion
Europe
JEL: 
D13
J12
J24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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