Working Paper: NBER ID: w24642
Authors: Daniel Barth; Nicholas W. Papageorge; Kevin Thom
Abstract: We show that genetic endowments linked to educational attainment strongly and robustly predict wealth at retirement. The estimated relationship is not fully explained by flexibly controlling for education and labor income. We therefore investigate a host of additional mechanisms that could help to explain the gene-wealth gradient, including inheritances, mortality, savings, risk preferences, portfolio decisions, beliefs about the probabilities of macroeconomic events, and planning horizons. The associations we report provide preliminary evidence that genetic endowments related to human capital accumulation are associated with wealth not only through educational attainment and labor income, but also through a facility with complex financial decision-making. Our study illustrates how economic research seeking to understand sources of inequality can benefit from recent advances in behavioral genetics linking specific observed genetic endowments to economic outcomes.
Keywords: Genetic endowments; Wealth inequality; Educational attainment; Behavioral genetics; Financial decision-making
JEL Codes: D14; D31; G11; H55; I24; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Genetic endowments linked to educational attainment (I24) | Wealth at retirement (G51) |
| Polygenic score (C39) | Probability of receiving an inheritance (D14) |
| Polygenic score (C39) | Financial decision-making (stock market participation, business ownership) (G11) |
| Higher polygenic scores (C12) | Longer planning horizons and more accurate beliefs about macroeconomic events (D84) |
| Genetic endowments (J79) | Wealth through education and income (I24) |