Genes, Education, and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study.

ABSTRACT: Recent advances have led to the discovery of specific genetic variants that predict educational attainment. We study how these variants, summarized as a linear index-known as a polygenic score-are associated with human capital accumulation and labor market outcomes in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We present two main sets of results. First, we find evidence that the genetic factors measured by this score interact strongly with childhood socioeconomic status in determining educational outcomes. In particular, although the polygenic score predicts higher rates of college graduation on average, this relationship is substantially stronger for individuals who grew up in households with higher socioeconomic status relative to those who grew up in poorer households. Second, the po

SUBMITTER: Papageorge NW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7297142 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature