What's the takeaway from the study? That despite so much current talk about genetics and peer influence explaining most of the variation in individual performance, parenting actually matters. It seems, in fact, to matter a lot. Genetic pre-determinism is a big part of the debate about birth order effects on school performance, but that performance, Hotz argues, is about much more than raw intelligence; working hard and "stick-to-itiveness" play a big part too, and those skills are teachable.

Why does the first child get the gold? An economics answer | PBS NewsHour Saturday, November 2, 2013 @ 5:02pm