PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Hui Ren Tan
TI  - More is Less? The Impact of Family Size on Education Outcomes in the United States, 1850–1940
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.54.4.0517.8768R1
DP  - 2018 Apr 04
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 0517-8768R1
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2018/04/02/jhr.54.4.0517.8768R1.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2018/04/02/jhr.54.4.0517.8768R1.full
AB  - Was there a tradeoff between family size and education during the demographic transition in the United States? Exploiting the occurrence of twin births as a source of exogenous variation in family size, I find that an additional sibling reduces the likelihood of attending school by 1 to 2 percentage points. To evaluate the persistence of family size effects, I create a linked sample of boys between 1920–1940. Individuals raised in larger families accumulate less human capital by adulthood. However, the impact of family size is quantitatively small relative to the average level of education in the population.