Personal Economic Responsibility: You Are Where You Are Born

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By definition alone, birth order is simply the ranking order in which a child is born in relation to his or her siblings and is a theory that maintains a stronghold on behaviours and psychological development despite a few challenges.

Children are said to be held to a lifetime of certain innate personality traits depending upon where exactly in the ranking they are born. For example, firstborn children, including only children, are said to be more meticulous and "Type-A" personalities and have the propensity to fall prey to psychological issues associated with not being good enough when they are symbolically dethroned following subsequent births. However, they tend to be leaders as far as education and careers, including their net worth. Middle children are said to do the poorest in those areas, specifically in large families.

Conversely, the last child is typically associated with being the "free bird" in that they are pampered, spoiled or for many, the parents simply have used the other children as crash-test-dummies and have given up the fight.

In a news article on AOL.com that explains jobs and birth order, Adler's psychological theory seems to be holding some ground. A book entitled The Pecking Order: Which Siblings Succeed and Why, author Dalton Conley, professor of sociology at New York University, describes how the majority of income inequality in the Nation happens between brothers and sisters and provides factual examples of individuals such as Bill Clinton and his younger criminal brother, Rodger or between Jimmy Carter and his younger brother, Billy who was famous for doing things like urinating on an airport runway. Both Rodger and Billy were alcoholics and created problems while their older siblings went on to be Presidents of the United States of America.

Once could call that a huge income differential within the home.

According to the article, Conley's book explains how birth order may affect personal job success:

First-Borns:
More conscientious, ambitious and aggressive than their younger siblings, throughout history -- even when large families were the norm -- more than half of all Nobel Prize winners and U.S. presidents have been first-born. Famous eldest children include: Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Richard Branson, J.K. Rowling and Winston Churchill.

Middles:
Middle children are more easy going and peer-oriented, often take on the role of mediator and peacemaker. Famous middle children include: Bill Gates, J.F.K., Madonna and Princess Diana.

Youngest:
The youngest child tends to be the most creative and can be very charming -- even manipulative. Successful in journalism, advertising, sales and the arts, famous youngest children include Cameron Diaz, Jim Carrey, Drew Carey, Rosie O'Donnell, Eddie Murphy and Billy Crystal.

Only Children:
Only children have similar characteristics to first-borns and are frequently burdened with high parental expectations, more confident, articulate and likely to use their imagination than other children. They also expect a lot from others, hate criticism, can be inflexible and are likely to be perfectionists. Well-known only children include Rudy Guiliani, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Alan Greenspan, Tiger Woods, tennis' teen queen Maria Sharapova and Leonardo Da Vinci.

The author did note that this is primarily for families with four or more children, what he termed as "large families." He also stated that the theory of birth order could indeed be negated depending upon certain factors such as age gaps, family living situations and even environmental issues. So given all things held constant and with good parental attention, skills and resources, parents may have some influence over just how successful their little ones will actually be based on factors such as birthing order and family size.

The book itself has received some interesting reviews, calling his study provocative. A review on Amazon.com by Therese Littleton explained the author's work:

Ultimately, what The Pecking Order reveals is that there is no single factor that can predict one's success or failure in life, but that complex, multilayered familial dynamics play the biggest part in determining our fate.

Even the Washington Post wrote a raving review and called it "provacative and lucid."

So for those who have not yet decided on starting a family or for grandparents-to-be, birth order and many other factors may very well influence the net worth of your future babies. Maybe this book should be filed on the nursery shelf between Feeding Your Baby and Picking A Name. And if you are still bickering about how big brother is always doing better than you? Well, just remember, it isn't his fault.