Making it right? Social norms, handwriting and human capital

Abstract

I study the forced right-hand writing of left-handed children (switching) as a case where social norms motivate parents to invest in their children. While the previous literature has found that left-handers obtain less human capital and lower wages than right-handers, due to innate cognitive deficits, I find that switched lefthanders actually perform equally well or even better than right-handers in the labor market, while non-switched left-handers exhibit the known deficits of left-handers. Using rich data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), it is shown that these differences occur due to differential human capital accumulation indicating a discrimination during schooling. Taking into account schooling, both types of left-handers exhibit the same wage gap with right-handers. Cognitive and noncognitive traits differ and matter little in explaining these gaps. These findings are consistent with switching being a compensatory intervention for innate deficits. To address potential (positive) selection bias, I propose an identification strategy based on right-handers as a counter-factual group.