The effect of birth order on children’s time use
利用澳大利亚和美国儿童的时间日记数据，研究发现后出生的孩子花在益智活动上的时间更少、花在数字媒体上的时间更多，部分原因是父母陪伴减少，但后出生孩子自身也更少投入益智活动，这可能解释了出生顺序对人力资本的影响。
Recent research shows that birth order affects human capital outcomes, yet there is limited empirical evidence on the underlying mechanisms. This study examines the effect of birth order on children’s time use across activities that are important for human capital development. Using detailed time-use diaries of Australian children aged 2–15, we find that within families with two or three children, later-born children spend less time on enrichment activities and more on digital media, compared to first-born children. We obtain the same findings when we repeat the analysis using detailed time-use diaries of US children. Further investigation reveals that part of the birth order effect is driven by parents spending less time with later-born children compared to first-borns. However, later-borns also independently devote less of their own time to enrichment activities, suggesting that personal time use may be an important mechanism behind the well-documented impact of birth order on human capital development. We find evidence that later-born children experience more lenient parenting, which may help explain this pattern of own time use.