The birthrate in Singapore, where ethnic Chinese people are a majority, spikes during astrological years of the dragon (1976, 1988, 2000, etc.), because babies born in a dragon year are believed by many to be superior. Yet the surge in births means tougher competition for university education, with the result that dragon babies are less likely to get a university education than babies born in other years, even though Singapore universities take more dragon-year students in an attempt to compensate, says Nicholas Sim of the University of Adelaide in Australia. A university education in Singapore increases individuals’ earnings by 50pc, on average, Sim says.

(Source: Economic Inquiry)

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, March 30th , 2015

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