Nature or Nurture? A Note on the Misinterpreted Twin Decomposition

Anders Stenberg

No 4/2011, Working Paper Series from Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research

Abstract: The classical twin model has often been used to determine whether variation in outcomes such IQ, schooling and other behavioral traits, originate from genetic endowments or environmental factors. Despite some heavy criticism from prominent scholars, the model has recently reappeared in highly ranked economics journals to perhaps spark off a revival of the method. This article seeks to specify the assumptions which generate the apparently profound divide in viewpoints. A general problem is that most authors do not properly discuss the underlying assumptions of the twin model. It has partly led to a disarray of thoughts, concrete examples are provided, since the interpretation of the results and the risk for misleading interpretations are not spelled out. Therefore, perhaps surprisingly, a brief account of the theories behind the main assumptions of the twin model provides a useful contribution.

Keywords: genes; environments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H50 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2011-03-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env, nep-hpe and nep-neu
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sofi.su.se/content/1/c6/03/09/74/WP11no4.pdf (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden (http://www.sofi.su.se/content/1/c6/03/09/74/WP11no4.pdf [301 Moved Permanently]--> https://www.sofi.su.se/content/1/c6/03/09/74/WP11no4.pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2011_004

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Paper Series from Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research SOFI, Stockholm University, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Daniel Rossetti (daniel.rossetti@sofi.su.se this e-mail address is bad, please contact repec@repec.org).