Birth Order, Gender, and the Parental Investment Gap among Children
Using panel data from the Japanese Longitudinal Survey of Newborns in the 21st Century, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether birth order and gender causally matter when parents make financial investments in their children. This paper focuses on the actual investment in the children in the form of financial resources. It is found that in Japan, parents spend more money on: their first born child; their male children when they are young; and their female children when they are old. In contrast, parents spending on educational related activities outside regular schools is higher for boys, but there is no difference between first born and later born children. Spending on extra-curricular activities is higher for girls and for first born children. Interestingly, girls receive more pocket money than boys, whereas a first born child receives less pocket money compared to a higher order child of the same age.
