We studied the effects of birth order and socioeconomic factors on educational attainment in Pakistan. We examined this relationship by using PSLM/HIES 2018–19 which is nationally representative household survey data. We found striking evidence that being born first as a male child is positively and significantly associated with educational attainment. Whereas in our girls' sample we found that being born first is significantly and negatively associated with educational attainment, and this effect does not persist for second-born female children if the firstborn is a male child. Such a difference in our estimates led us to investigate further the cohort and rural–urban dimensions. We concluded that urban areas in Pakistan are primarily responsible for resource rationing in favor of male children for younger cohorts. Therefore, the study recommends the targeted policy intervention to remove such differentials based on gender when it comes to the educational attainment of a child.
Introduction
It is widely acknowledged that education affects the economic conditions of people by increasing their earnings in the labor market1. Education helps people to learn different skills which in turn facilitates them to get employment and access to opportunities2. Therefore, the higher the educational attainment, the higher will be the possibility to get better employment along with higher wages, and higher wage growth. Hence, it could be argued that educated people are more productive which makes them less vulnerable to unemployment. In addition to the idiosyncratic benefits of education, it affects a nation’s progress considerably. Countries with better human capital are less vulnerable to poverty and income inequality. Countries equipped with better human capital have various other benefits such as chances of good governance, social inclusion, and freedom from social problems like crime rate, etc3.These educational benefits can be ascertained through an egalitarian educational policy which can dampen the regional disparities and ensure inclusiveness. This paper explores the hindering factors to education concerning birth-order, gender in rural and urban areas and recommends policies that ensure gender inclusion.
Education, which researchers have objectified as educational attainment, depends upon the education policy of a country, mode of the labor market, preferences of the people in a country, and various other national factors. Apart from national factors educational attainment also depends upon household characteristics such as socio-economic conditions, demographicfactors, cultural preferences etc. Moreover, Idiosyncratic characteristics do also play a prominent role in the educational attainment of individuals such as sibling size, gender, intelligence, and more importantly birth order. Recent literature in economics has validated the importance of birth order while studying the educational outcomes4,5,6,7. The importance of birth order can also be ascertained from the fact that it has an intertemporal effect, for instance, those who are first born, not only their educational attainment will be higher but the attainment of their offspring will also be higher8.The cultural preferences for different genders, especially in orthodox cultures can be understood through birth order, where parents intend to produce more children if the firstborn is a girl9. In such societies sons provide more support to their parents and therefore they are paid much attention when it comes to education. To understand the theoretical framework and linkages through which birth order creates an impact on educational attainment, it is pivotal to understand the resource dilution hypothesis and other empirical work at the cross-section of the above-mentioned ideas. First, the resource dilution hypothesis which posits that the subsequent number of children decreases the number of parental resources at their disposal Parents provide various finite resources to their children against which they are competing with each other; parents can provide basic needs of life, cultural goods, and environment, in addition to the opportunities to engage with the outside world. Therefore, it could be argued that they provide personal attention, schooling, and treatment. But with each additional child the parental resources available to a particular child decrease, thus, hindering the chances of higher educational attainment for later born. The earlier born has advantages because one does not have to share resources with other children. Such parental resources are crucial for better educational outcomes of earlier born and vice versa. Regardless of whether we accept guardians who disseminate assets similarly among their kids, earlier-born are benefited more than later-born children10. Second, the Confluence hypothesis (Confluence model claims that the intellectual development within a family depends on cumulative intellectual environment where a first born enjoys rich cognitive stimulation as compared to latter born children) posits that the first born directly interacts with cognitively mature parents thus enhancing his chances of intelligence as compared to later born children who acquire a diluted intellectual environment11.
To understand the resource dilution model and birth order effects it is pertinent to incorporate family size because a large family size is associated with a large number of children thus the birth order effects are more apparent for large families. The existing literature to date has shown that family size is inversely associated with educational attainment12,13.
The resource dilution model recommends us to take into consideration various other socio-economic conditions and idiosyncratic characteristics such as household income (family income has shown consistent and positive impact on education14), family structure, gender of an individual, education of parents, and demography to better understand the role of birth order on educational attainment. Parental education cannot be relegated while studying the educational outcomes because empirical literature suggests it can determine the educational attainment of children (children born to educated parents are more educated as compared to children who belongs to uneducated parents15). In addition, household assets do also play a positive role in educational attainment for males while it is inversely related to females16. If Parental time spent with children is assumed more valuable for children, then firstborn children are at an advantage since they spend more time with parents as compared to other siblings during their infancy17.This earlier time investment coupled with other birth order effects put the firstborn child in an advantageous position which helps the one to attain higher education. Parents usually show firm attitudes to the firstborn to deter the latter born from the careless attitude towards studies. These strategies, they deem, are the defining factors that help the earlier to excel in academics18.
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