Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers
Creation-Date: 2024-02-15
Number: 24-012/V
Author-Name: Cornelius A. Rietveld
Author-Workplace-Name:  Erasmus School of Economics
Title: Heritability and public policy reconsidered, again
Abstract: I offer a way out of the Taubman-Goldberger controversy on the public policy (ir)relevance of heritability studies by arguing for a quasi-experimentally controlled comparison of the estimates that these studies provide. If the environments individuals are exposed to are under such control, changes in the genetic and the common environment (family) variance components underlying inter-individual differences can be ex-post informative regarding the evolvement of sources of inequalities in a population. Using administrative data from the Netherlands, I empirically illustrate this reappraisal of heritability studies by estimating two different gene-environment interactions in test scores from a high- stakes national educational achievement test.
Classification-JEL: I24, I38, J18
Keywords: Education, Equality of opportunity, Inequality, Heritability, Public policy
File-URL: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/24012.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 827.308 bytes
Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20240012