Gene x Environment Interactions: Polygenic Scores and the Impact of an Early Childhood Intervention in Colombia

Orazio Attanasio (), Gabriella Conti, Pamela Jervis (), Costas Meghir () and Aysu Okbay
Additional contact information
Orazio Attanasio: University College London
Pamela Jervis: University of Chile
Costas Meghir: Yale University
Aysu Okbay: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

No 2025-003, Working Papers from Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group

Abstract: We evaluate impacts heterogeneity of an Early Childhood Intervention, with respect to the Educational Attainment Polygenic Score (EA4 PGS) constructed from DNA data based on GWAS weights from a European population. We find that the EA4 PGS is predictive of several measures of child development, mother’s IQ and, to some extent, educational attainment. We also show that the impacts of the intervention are significantly greater in children with low PGS, to the point that the intervention eliminates the initial genetic disadvantage. Lastly, we find that children with high PGS attract more parental stimulation; however, the latter increases more strongly in children with low PGS.

Keywords: gene-environment interactions; early childhood development; stimulation programs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 I24 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-mac and nep-neu
Note: ECI, FI, HI
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http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Attana ... res-ECI-colombia.pdf First version, May 5, 2025 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Gene x Environment Interactions: Polygenic Scores and the Impact of an Early Childhood Intervention in Colombia (2025)
Working Paper: Gene x Environment Interactions: Polygenic Scores and the Impact of an Early Childhood Intervention in Colombia (2025)
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