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CHAPTER 2: Strategic Parenting, Birth Order and School Performance. Interest on the effects of birth order on human capital accumulation has recently reemerged. The debate about its existence seems to be settled, but identification of the main mechanisms remains somewhat elusive. While the latest research aims at rediscovering dilution theory, we advance complementary economic hypotheses regarding the causal mechanisms underlying birth order effects in education. In particular, we entertain theories of differential discipline in which those who are born later face more lenient disciplinary environments. In such contexts, the later born sibling will be likely to exert lower school effort, thus reaching lower performance levels. We provide robust empirical evidence on substantial attenuation parental restrictions for those with higher birth order (born later). We speculate this may arise a) as a result of parental reputation dynamics and/or b) because of the changing relative cost of alternative monitoring and punishment technologies available to parents as well as increasing enforcing costs that must be afforded when multiple children must be monitored at the same time.