Why sisters are better than brothers : the effect of sibling gender on attitudes and other essays in gender and education economics

Abstract

This thesis is composed of three independent essays in applied microeconomics. The first contributes to the field of gender and family economics and analyzes the effect of the gender of the second-born sibling on first-born individuals’ attitudes. The second chapter speaks to the health economics literature, evaluating the unitended consequences of a liberalization of the morning after pill. The topic of the final chapter lies within the economics of education, proposing a way to differentiate between degrees depending on the type of higher education institution. Even though the three chapters seem separate, all of them share my interest in gender and education economics, as well as causal estimation. In Chapter 1, joint with Martin Habets, we analyze the causal effect of sibling gender on attitudes and preferences. Comparing first-born women with a next-born sister to first-born women with a next-born brother allows us to estimate the causal effect of sibling gender. In particular, we find that a next-born sister leads first-born women to have less stereotypically female preferences in education. We also explore how the gender of the next-born sibling influences parental involvement. Our findings indicate that parents are more involved in the education of their first-born daughter if their next-born sibling is also a girl. These results shed light on how sibling gender influences preferences and attitudes, specifically those for education choices that are gender role conforming. To further explore the role of sibling gender in shaping attitudes, we have designed an online survey – currently in progress – to measure gender roles more precisely. In Capter 2, I analyze the causal effects of liberalizing access to emergency hormonal contraception (EHC), also known as the morning after pill, on young adults’ reproductive behavior in England. The liberalization, which changed the prescription status from “on doctor’s prescription only” to “available without prescription in pharmacies", created easier and more timely access to EHC for all women aged 16 years or older. In a theoretical model of individual behavior I find that EHC, which can be seen as i insurance against pregnancies, acts both as a substitute for regular contraception, as well as a substitute for abortions. This creates the need for analyzing the issue empirically since overall effects on outcomes such as births and abortions are unclear. Using a difference-in-differences approach, I find that easier access to EHC increases births only among 20-24 year olds. I find no effects on abortions or sexually transmitted infections. Chapter 3, attempts to differentiate the degree attainment in the UK by type of higher education institutions. Historically higher education in the UK has been shaped by a dual system: elite universities on the one hand and polytechnics and other higher education institutions on the other. Despite the formal equivalence of both degrees, the two institution types faced different financing, target populations, admission procedures and subjects taught. Nevertheless, in survey data they are often indistinguishable. We overcome this problem using a multiple imputation technique in the UKHLS and BHPS data sets. We examine the validity of inference based on imputed values using Monte Carlo simulations. We also verify that the imputed values are consistent with university graduation rates computed using the universe of undergraduate students in the UK.