• Journal of Labour Economics
• /
• v.41 no.2
• /
• pp.89-106
• /
• 2018

As the Korean school entry date changed in 2010, from March 1 to January 1, January-born children are older than their peers at school, and December-born children are the youngest. This implies that parents may have incentives to avoid giving birth in December, and a mother who gives birth in this month is likely to be a mother who is not very concerned with her child's education. This study finds that the mothers of December-born children are younger, have lower education level, and have a lower probability of being employed than other mothers. This means that December-born children are more disadvantaged because they are the youngest among their peers and are from families of low socioeconomic backgrounds.

• Journal of Labour Economics
• /
• v.42 no.1
• /
• pp.107-128
• /
• 2019

When parental experience improves parenting skills, parents are likely to behave in favor of children of higher birth orders. To examine this hypothesis, this study analyzes birth month based on birth order of children in South Korea where parents prefer to have babies in the earlier months of a year. This study finds that while more babies are born in the earlier months, second-born children are more likely to be so than first children. This implies that parental experience makes for better parents.