We analyze the relationship between birth order, parental health investment and children's health using administrative data from Austria. We show that later-born children have better health endowments at birth. They are less likely born preterm or with a low birth weight, and less likely hospitalized for perinatal conditions. We also find significant birth order differences in parental health investment in early childhood. Later-born children are less likely to participate in preventive medical screenings and their vaccine uptake rates are lower. Our analysis indicates that these birth order differences in parental health investments are not driven by children's health endowments. Thus, we do not find evidence for compensatory behavior of parents. We discuss alternative explanations, such as the role of resource constraints. Furthermore, we show, that the initial health inequalities extend into middle childhood. Later-born children show a better health status in school health checks, they consume less medication and are less often hospitalized.

我们使用奥地利的行政数据分析出生顺序、父母健康投资和儿童健康之间的关系。我们表明，晚出生的孩子在出生时具有更好的健康禀赋。他们不太可能早产或出生体重低，也不太可能因围产期疾病住院。我们还发现，在幼儿期父母健康投资方面，出生顺序存在显着差异。晚出生的孩子不太可能参加预防性医学筛查，而且他们的疫苗接种率较低。我们的分析表明，父母健康投资中的这些出生顺序差异并不是由儿童的健康禀赋驱动的。因此，我们没有找到父母补偿行为的证据。我们讨论替代解释，例如资源约束的作用。此外，我们表明，最初的健康不平等会延续到童年中期。晚出生的孩子在学校的健康检查中表现出更好的健康状况，他们服用的药物更少，住院的次数也更少。