The dragon cohort of Hong Kong: traditional beliefs, demographics, and education

Fortunes and misfortunes of the dragon sons: Direct and cohort effects of superstition on education attainment

“…As people born in dragon years are faced with larger cohort sizes, they also face more competition for the limited education resources or the education resources are spread thinner (Agarwal et al, 2017; Sim, 2015). However, there may also be possible peer effects working in the other direction: the positive confidence or hard‐working attitudes may create external pressure for their classmates (Lau, 2019).…”

“…This is the first paper to separately identify the different effects. Previous literature shows that being born in dragon years can increase education attainment via parental expectations and their monetary investments (Mocan & Yu, 2020), while that it can decrease education attainment due to larger cohort size and more competition with their peers (Lau, 2019). The competing mechanisms can lead to mixed findings and inability to attribute the overall effect to the mechanisms.…”

“…Lau (2019) estimated the cohort effects by comparing those exposed to the dragon cohort and those who weren't. I generalize his method of estimating the cohort effects for surveys with more than two sample years and propose the method for separately estimating the direct effects.6 Liu (2015) andGoodkind (1991) suggest the belief that tiger zodiac specifically brings misfortune to females, as female born in tiger zodiac years are traditionally believed to be stubborn and unsuitable for wifely duties.…”

Inter-Ethnic Fertility Spillovers and the Role of Forward-Looking Behavior: Evidence from Peninsular Malaysia

“…Lastly, a small body of literature uses superstition as a source of exogenous variation in fertility, which can affect sex ratios (Lee and Paik, 2006), parents' investments in children (Do and Phung, 2010), children's outcomes (Johnson and Nye, 2011;Lau, 2015), and parents' outcomes (Vere, 2008) in the Chinese diaspora across different countries. To our knowledge, this is the first paper that examines the spillover effects of these fertility responses onto members of non-Chinese groups.…”

Superstition, Fertility, and Interethnic Spillovers: Evidence from Peninsular Malaysia

“…Lastly, a small body of literature uses superstition as a source of exogenous variation in fertility, which can affect sex ratios (Lee and Paik, 2006), parents' investments in children (Do and Phung, 2010), children's outcomes (Johnson and Nye, 2011;Lau, Forthcoming), and parents' outcomes (Vere, 2008) in the Chinese diaspora across different countries. To our knowledge, this is the first paper that examines the spillover effects of these fertility responses onto members of non-Chinese groups.…”