Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers
Creation-Date: 2020-08-27
Revision-Date: 2020-12-01
Number: 20-053/V
Author-Name: Hyeokmoon Kweon
Author-Workplace-Name: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Author-Name: Casper A.P. Burik
Author-Workplace-Name: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Author-Name: Richard Karlsson Linner
Author-Workplace-Name: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Author-Name: Ronald de Vlaming 
Author-Workplace-Name: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Author-Name: Aysu Okbay
Author-Workplace-Name: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Author-Name: Daphne Martschenko
Author-Workplace-Name: Stanford University
Author-Name: Kathryn Paige Harden
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Texas at Austin
Author-Name: Thomas A. DiPrete
Author-Workplace-Name: Columbia University
Author-Name: Philipp D. Koellinger
Author-Workplace-Name: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Title: Genetic Fortune: Winning or Losing Education, Income, and Health
Abstract: We develop a polygenic index for individual income and examine random differences in this index with lifetime outcomes in a sample of ~35,000 biological siblings. We find that genetic fortune for higher income causes greater socio-economic status and better health, partly via intervenable environmental pathways such as education. The positive returns to schooling remain substantial even after controlling for now observable genetic confounds. Our findings illustrate that inequalities in education, income, and health are partly due the outcomes of a genetic lottery. However, the consequences of different genetic endowments are malleable, for example via policies that target education.
Classification-JEL: J00, I20, I10
Keywords: Income, education, health, inequality, heritability, genetics, polygenic index
File-URL: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/20053.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 4629076 bytes
Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20200053