Born Last: How Birth Order Affects Childhood Outcomes

Economic theory holds up competition as an ideal way for society to allocate limited resources. Although competition is often discussed in terms of equilibrium supply and demand in a given market, the strategic allocation of resources also has significant consequences within individual households. For example, in large families where there is not enough food to go around, the decisions families ultimately make have an impact on the health of each family member.

In order to better understand resource allocation within large families, researchers Embry M. Howell, Nikhil Holla, and Timothy Waidmann studied birth order as a risk factor for poor health in a recent paper released by the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Center. While other studies have examined the relationship between birth order and health outcomes, Howell et al.’s study constitutes an important contribution to the field because it specifically focuses on a representative group of African countries where lifetime fertility and childhood mortality rates are persistently high. To understand the relationship between birth order and health in these countries, the researchers measured...