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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp018623j164m
Title: O Brother, Where Start Thou? Sibling Spillovers on College and Major Choice in Four Countries
Authors: Neilson, Christopher
Altmejd, Adam
Barrios-Fernandez, Andres
Drlje, Marin
Goodman, Joshua
Hurwitz, Michael
Kovac, Dejan
Mulhern, Christine
Smith, Jonathan
Keywords: Sibling Effects
College and Major Choice
Peer and Social Network Effects
JEL codes: I21, I24
Issue Date: May-2020
Series/Report no.: 641
Abstract: Family and social networks are widely believed to influence important life decisions but identifying their causal effects is notoriously difficult. Using admissions thresholds that directly affect older but not younger siblings’ college options, we present evidence from the United States, Chile, Sweden and Croatia that older siblings’ college and major choices can significantly influence their younger siblings’ college and major choices. On the extensive margin, an older sibling’s enrollment in a better college increases a younger sibling’s probability of enrolling in college at all, especially for families with low predicted probabilities of enrollment. On the intensive margin, an older sibling’s choice of college or major increases the probability that a younger sibling applies to and enrolls in that same college or major. Spillovers in major choice are stronger when older siblings enroll and succeed in more selective and higher-earning majors. The observed spillovers are not well-explained by price, income, proximity or legacy effects, but are most consistent with older siblings transmitting otherwise unavailable information about the college experience and its potential returns. The importance of such personally salient information may partly explain persistent differences in college-going rates by geography, income, and other determinants of social networks.
URI: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp018623j164m
Appears in Collections:IRS Working Papers

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