Working Paper: NBER ID: w28498
Authors: Martin A. Isungset; Dalton Conley; Henrik D. Zachrisson; Eivind Ystrøm; Alexandra Havdahl; PL R. Njlstad; Torkild H. Lyngstad
Abstract: Research into the intergenerational transmission of educational advantage has long been criticized for not paying sufficient attention to genetics. This study is based on the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and administrative register data on 25000 genotyped Norwegian children and their parents. We assess and disentangle the relative importance of genetics and social background for children’s standardized academic test scores. Norway offers a particularly interesting context for intergenerational transmission, as the welfare state and educational system is designed to provide equal opportunity structures for children. The results point to genetics only confounding the parent status-offspring achievement relationship to a small degree, to ‘genetic nurture’ effects being small, and pro-vide no evidence of neither Scarr-Rowe interactions in test scores nor parent-child genotype interactions. Even in a universal welfare state with relatively low levels of inequality, there are two systems of ascription, one genetic and one social, and these are largely independent of each other.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: I24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| parental education (I24) | children's academic performance (I24) |
| genetics (J10) | parent status-offspring achievement (I24) |
| socioeconomic status (P36) | realization of intellectual potential (O39) |
| parental education (I24) | children's test scores (I21) |
| genetic nurture effects (C92) | children's academic performance (I24) |
| independent systems of ascription (P39) | genetic and social influences (C92) |