STUDY. How your birth date influences your career.
9 September 2013
Read by 2919 persons
CAREER - Your birth date may have had more influence on your life than you think. According to a study by the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia (UBC), babies born in the summer are less likely than others to reach senior positions in companies later in their lives.
To find this out, the researchers compared the careers and birth dates of the 500 CEOs of the S&P 500 stock market index, a kind of American CAC 40, which includes not 40 but 500 companies. A surprising proportion of these executives were born in March or April. Unlike June and July, the first half of the year had twice as many executives.
"Birth date effect"
The study focused on the months of March, April, June and July, taking into account that in the United States, admissions take place between September and January. Hence this obvious bias. A baby born in summer will have its admission postponed by one year, making it the youngest in its class, while babies born in March or April will be the oldest.
"Our results show that there is a real birth date effect, a consequence of the timing of children's admission to school," explains Maurice Levi, co-author of the study to be published in the December issue of the journal Economics Letters.
This study is not the first to point out this phenomenon. In his bestseller Outliers, New York journalist Malcolm Gladwell showed that ice hockey players born in January and February had better careers than others, mainly because of their larger size and because they were incorporated into a team earlier in the year than others.
Misdiagnosis
In 2009, another study by the University of Cambridge in Great Britain looked at the British education system to find that a number of parameters penalized students born in summer.
With a start date in September, this study revealed that the "birth date" effect was stronger during primary and elementary school. A direct consequence of this bias: some diagnoses of school failure were in reality simply misleading, since the difficulties of some students were simply due to the fact that the students were too young.
"Coming from the same class, older students tend to have better results than younger students who are intellectually less developed," explains Maurice Levi. The consequences of a good school result go even further than the report card and have an influence on the child's social life. "Early success gives children certain leadership skills, an advantage that can play a role for the rest of their lives," analyzes the researcher.
Huffingtonpost.fr
Posted online September 9, 2013.
To find this out, the researchers compared the careers and birth dates of the 500 CEOs of the S&P 500 stock market index, a kind of American CAC 40, which includes not 40 but 500 companies. A surprising proportion of these executives were born in March or April. Unlike June and July, the first half of the year had twice as many executives.
"Birth date effect"
The study focused on the months of March, April, June and July, taking into account that in the United States, admissions take place between September and January. Hence this obvious bias. A baby born in summer will have its admission postponed by one year, making it the youngest in its class, while babies born in March or April will be the oldest.
"Our results show that there is a real birth date effect, a consequence of the timing of children's admission to school," explains Maurice Levi, co-author of the study to be published in the December issue of the journal Economics Letters.
This study is not the first to point out this phenomenon. In his bestseller Outliers, New York journalist Malcolm Gladwell showed that ice hockey players born in January and February had better careers than others, mainly because of their larger size and because they were incorporated into a team earlier in the year than others.
Misdiagnosis
In 2009, another study by the University of Cambridge in Great Britain looked at the British education system to find that a number of parameters penalized students born in summer.
With a start date in September, this study revealed that the "birth date" effect was stronger during primary and elementary school. A direct consequence of this bias: some diagnoses of school failure were in reality simply misleading, since the difficulties of some students were simply due to the fact that the students were too young.
"Coming from the same class, older students tend to have better results than younger students who are intellectually less developed," explains Maurice Levi. The consequences of a good school result go even further than the report card and have an influence on the child's social life. "Early success gives children certain leadership skills, an advantage that can play a role for the rest of their lives," analyzes the researcher.
Huffingtonpost.fr
Posted online September 9, 2013.
