"Born in an Unlucky Season"

I was born in December:

[N]ew research by a pair of University of Notre Dame economists suggests that some of us are ... born in an unlucky season. ... Kasey Buckles and Daniel Hungerman point out that a large body of previous research consistently has found that people born in December, January and February are, on average, less educated, less intelligent, less healthy and lower paid than people born in other seasons. ...

Comments

[tom s.]

Me too. Just shows how exceptional we must be to overcome all those obstacles.

[Arnold Kling]

I believe according to the Greg Mankiw height-tax theory you are entitled to a lower marginal tax rate, because for you earning income requires more effort.

[calmo]

I'll report back as soon as I can determine the Signs of the writers...ok Hungerman claims he was born in February...but not in Fairbanks...which could've accounted for every little ting he and his very mum partner Kasey have labored for so far...of course it could be true that his siblings born in the dead of winter were all eaten before they got to PhD stage...

[don]

And the effects are no doubt highly statistically significant (as are higher IQ's for people born in March and April - this is true, believe it or not). But in absolute value the effects are completely insignificant. Also, I'm sure you need to take acount of which hemisphere the person is born in, so that the sign is irrelevant even for the insignificant effect.

[Asian]

So if the "reasons" are really:
"One explanation for the seasonal patterns in births is that summer's high temperatures inhibit sperm production. This seems to affect lower socioeconomic status women more adversely, which could explain why there are relatively fewer births to these women in the spring and early summer."

Then, wouldn't be true for countries with higher temperature? Maybe some cross country comparison can be used to validate their "studies"?

[btg]

there are advantages to being born early in the year - i came across a reference to this in a Toronto newspaper recently:

Birthdate and success in minor hockey: The key to the NHL
ROGER H. BARNSLEY
Faculty of Education, Saint Mary's University
AND
A. H. THOMPSON
Alberta Mental Health Services
ABSTRACT
Previous research (Barnsley, Thompson, & Barnsley, 198S) demonstrated an extremely strong linear
relationship between the month of birth (from January to December) and the likelihood of playing in
the National Hockey League and two major developmental Junior hockey leagues. The present study
analyzes the birthdates of 7313 hockey players participating in the Edmonton Minor Hockey Association
in the 1983-1984 season. The main findings are that players possessing a relative age advantage,
i.e., born in the months of January to June, are more likely to participate in minor hockey and are more
likely to play for "top tier," or "rep" teams than are players who are born in the months of July to
December and thereby are disadvantaged by their relative age. Proposals by which these relative age
effects could be reduced are considered.

http://www.socialproblemindex.ualberta.ca/RelAgeMinorHockeyCJBS.pdf

[reason]

btg
I have seen the same said for football (soccer) in Australia. Players who are slightly older in junior competitions have an advantage and so develope more skills and self-confidence.

[Steve Roth]

Thanks to BTG and Reason for beating me to the punch on this.

Could the conclusion be that engaging in team sports causes people to be, on average, less educated, less intelligent, less healthy and lower paid?

Just askin'...

[Patricia ShannonP]

Another factor is poorer nutrition in the winter months during the time of brain formation. Poor pre-natal nutrition is known to permanently adversely affect people's cognitive abilities.

says...

Blood flow; it's all in the blood flow. During winter months mother's blood vessels tend to contract and so less oxygen goes to the brain of the baby which is esp crucial as the baby's brain has become more developed

[Asian]

All the claims about blood flow or nutrition in Winter can be tested by:
1) cross country comparison
2) within family comparison which eliminates the social economic effect of the mother.

Not so hard to test.

[reason]

Vitamin D?

says...

"Blood flow; it's all in the blood flow. During winter months mother's blood vessels tend to contract and so less oxygen goes to the brain of the baby which is esp crucial as the baby's brain has become more developed"

So does this mean all polar bears are retarded? I think not. The body is an isothermal system.

The vitamin D explanation has more merit, but since most of the brain formation occurs in later months, perhaps it is not a clear cut explanation.

Quiet frankly this falls in Twain's- "Lies, damn lies and statistics" category.