Gender Differences in the Genetics of Skill Formation

Mikkel Aagaard Houmark and Victor Ronda

No 13078, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: This paper examines heterogeneity in the gender gap in early cognitive skills. While boys lag behind on average, we document both a socioeconomic and a genetic gradient, with disadvantaged boys falling substantially further behind comparable girls. Estimating a dynamic skill formation model, we show that the genetic gradient reflects boys’ greater sensitivity to their own endowments, while the socioeconomic gradient can be explained by genetic differences, higher returns to parental investment, and stronger skill self-productivity among boys. Differences in parental investments further amplify both the average gender gap and the overrepresentation of boys at both tails of the skill distribution.

Keywords: child development; cognitive skills; parental investments; genes; SES (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 I24 J13 J16 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_13078

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