Impact of Sibship Size, Birth Order and Sex Composition on School Enrolment in Urban Turkey

DAYIOĞLU TAYFUR M., Kirdar M. G., TANSEL A.

OXFORD BULLETIN OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS, cilt.71, sa.3, ss.399-426, 2009 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 71 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2009
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1111/j.1468-0084.2008.00540.x
  • Dergi Adı: OXFORD BULLETIN OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.399-426
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: I2, J1, FAMILY-SIZE, EDUCATION, QUANTITY, QUALITY, ALLOCATION, CHILDREN, TIME
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This paper investigates, in a unified framework, the effects of sibship size, birth order and sibling sex composition on children's school enrolment in urban Turkey. We utilize an instrumental variable estimation method to address parents' joint fertility and schooling decisions using twin births as instruments. We find no causal impact of sibship size on school enrolment. However, there is evidence for a parabolic impact of birth order where middle-born children fare worse. Sex composition of siblings matters only for female children. Our finding that birth order and sibling sex composition matter more for poorer households suggests that scarce financial resources play an important role in bringing about the sibling composition effects.