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Big Sisters

Author

Listed:
  • Jakiela,Pamela
  • Ozier,Owen
  • Fernald,Lia C.
  • Knauer,Heather Ashley

Abstract

This paper models household investments in young children when parents and oldersiblings share caregiving responsibilities and when investments by older siblings contribute to youngchildren's human capital accumulation. To test the predictions of the model, the paper estimates the impact ofhaving one older sister (as opposed to one older brother) on early childhood development in a sample of rural Kenyanhouseholds with otherwise similar family structures. Older sibling gender is not related to household structure,subsequent birth spacing, or other observable characteristics, so the presence of an older girl (asopposed to an older boy) is treated as plausibly exogenous. Having an older sister rather than an older brother improvesyounger siblings' vocabulary and fine motor skills by more than 0.1 standard deviations. Viewed through the lensof the model, the empirical pattern shown here suggests that: (i) older siblings' investments in young childrencontribute to their human capital accumulation, and (ii) households perceive lower returns to investing in oldergirls than in older boys.

Suggested Citation

  • Jakiela,Pamela & Ozier,Owen & Fernald,Lia C. & Knauer,Heather Ashley, 2020. "Big Sisters," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9454, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9454
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    File URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/384181603738785852/pdf/Big-Sisters.pdf
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    Other versions of this item:

    • Pamela Jakiela & Owen Ozier & Lia Fernald & Heather Knauer, 2020. "Big Sisters," Working Papers 559, Center for Global Development.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Buhl-Wiggers, Julie & Jones, Sam & Thornton, Rebecca, 2021. "Boys lagging behind: Unpacking gender differences in academic achievement across East Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    2. Jorge M. Agüero & Mindy Marks & Neha Raykar, 2020. "Economic Development and the Motherhood Wage Penalty," Working papers 2020-06, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender and Development; Social Protections & Assistance; Early Child and Children's Health; Nutrition; Early Childhood Development; Reproductive Health; Inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation

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