Born leaders: Political selection and the relative age effect in the US Congress

Muller, D; Page, L

Born leaders: Political selection and the relative age effect in the US Congress

Muller, D Page, L

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Publisher:: WILEY-BLACKWELL
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A: Statistics in Society, 2016, 179, (3), pp. 809-829
Issue Date:: 2016-06-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Muller, D
dc.contributor.author	Page, L https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6020-9733
dc.date.accessioned	2022-07-29T20:55:48Z
dc.date.available	2022-07-29T20:55:48Z
dc.date.issued	2016-06-01
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A: Statistics in Society, 2016, 179, (3), pp. 809-829
dc.identifier.issn	0964-1998
dc.identifier.issn	1467-985X
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/159377
dc.description.abstract	We present substantial evidence for the existence of a bias in the distribution of births of leading US politicians in favour of those who were the eldest in their cohort at school. This result adds to the research on the long-term effects of relative age among peers at school. We discuss parametric and non-parametric tests to identify this effect, and we show that it is not driven by measurement error, redshirting or a sorting effect of highly educated parents. The magnitude of the effect that we estimate is larger than what other studies on 'relative age effects' have found for broader populations but is in general consistent with research that looks at professional sportsmen. We also find that relative age does not seem to correlate with the quality of elected politicians.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	WILEY-BLACKWELL
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A: Statistics in Society
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1111/rssa.12154
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.subject	0104 Statistics, 1403 Econometrics, 1603 Demography
dc.subject.classification	Statistics & Probability
dc.title	Born leaders: Political selection and the relative age effect in the US Congress
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	179
utslib.for	0104 Statistics
utslib.for	1403 Econometrics
utslib.for	1603 Demography
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Economics Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
dc.date.updated	2022-07-29T20:55:47Z
pubs.issue	3
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	179
utslib.citation.issue	3

Abstract:

We present substantial evidence for the existence of a bias in the distribution of births of leading US politicians in favour of those who were the eldest in their cohort at school. This result adds to the research on the long-term effects of relative age among peers at school. We discuss parametric and non-parametric tests to identify this effect, and we show that it is not driven by measurement error, redshirting or a sorting effect of highly educated parents. The magnitude of the effect that we estimate is larger than what other studies on 'relative age effects' have found for broader populations but is in general consistent with research that looks at professional sportsmen. We also find that relative age does not seem to correlate with the quality of elected politicians.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/159377