Birth-order effects are posited by many to affect earnings and schooling. The authors show how such effects can be interpreted to shift either the earnings possibility frontier for siblings or parental preferences. The authors find empirical evidence for birth- order effects on (age-adjusted)...

The authors show how comparisons between the within-twin correlations of human capital outcomes across identical and nonidentical twins can be used to identify the variability in the individual-specific component of endowments and the responsiveness of schooling to individual-specific endowments...

We examine the importance of family background for early childhood development (ECD) using data collected in 2001 from 3,556 children ages 0-36 months in three regions of the Philippines. We focus on four main research questions: (1) are associations of family background with ECD in part...

The authors assess the impact of college quality on women's earnings and the influence of family and individual endowments on college choice using new data from a survey of identical and nonidentical twins born in Minnesota. The estimates reject models that ignore school choice. The...