Volume 23 - Article 21 | Pages 587–614  

Siblings and human capital: A comparison between Italy and France

By Giulia Ferrari, Gianpiero Dalla Zuanna

This article is part of the Special Collection 10 "Social Mobility and Demographic Behaviour: A Long-Term Perspective"

Abstract

This paper investigates how family size affects children’s human capital, comparing Italy and France. We tested the dilution effect in these countries, starting with the assumption that the higher the number of siblings, the fewer parental resources are available for each child, and the lower the probability that each child will successfully pursue his/her educational career. We find a negative correlation between the number of siblings and human capital. However, when the analysis is developed with a causal approach, the strength of the dilution effect weakens in Italy and disappears in France.

Author's Affiliation

• Giulia Ferrari - Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED), France EMAIL
• Gianpiero Dalla Zuanna - Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD), Italy EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

The growing number of given names as a clue to the beginning of the demographic transition in Europe
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‘Will the one who keeps the children keep the house?’ Residential mobility after divorce by parenthood status and custody arrangements in France
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A synthetic measure of mortality using skeletal data from ancient cemeteries: The d index
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First signs of transition: The parallel decline of early baptism and early mortality in the province of Padua (northeast Italy), 1816‒1870
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Mortality selection in the first three months of life and survival in the following thirty-three months in rural Veneto (North-East Italy) from 1816 to 1835
Volume 31 - Article 39

Comparisons of infant mortality in the Austrian Empire Länder using the Tafeln (1851-54)
Volume 22 - Article 26

Social mobility and fertility
Volume 17 - Article 15

Interdependence between sexual debut and church attendance in Italy
Volume 14 - Article 19

The banquet of Aeolus: A familistic interpretation of Italy's lowest low fertility
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