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  4. August 2024
  5. Intergenerational and Sibling Spillovers in High School Majors

American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy

ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)

Intergenerational and Sibling Spillovers in High School Majors

  • Gordon B. Dahl
  • Dan-Olof Rooth
  • Anders Stenberg
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 16, no. 3, August 2024
(pp. 133–73)
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Abstract

This paper estimates family spillovers in high school major choice in Sweden, where admission to oversubscribed majors is determined based on GPA. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find large sibling and intergenerational spillovers that depend on the sex mix of a dyad. Same-sex siblings copy one another, while younger brothers recoil from an older sister's choices. Fathers and mothers influence sons but not their daughters, except when a mother majors in the male-dominated program of engineering. Back-of-the-envelope calculations reveal that these within-family spillovers have sizable implications for the sex composition of majors.

Citation

Dahl, Gordon B., Dan-Olof Rooth, and Anders Stenberg. 2024. "Intergenerational and Sibling Spillovers in High School Majors." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 16 (3): 133–73. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20220197

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • I21 Analysis of Education
  • J12 Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
  • J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
  • J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
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