Genetic Endowments, Educational Outcomes and the Mediating Influence of School Investments

Benjamin Arold, Paul Hufe and Marc Stoeckli

No 9841, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Genetic endowments are fixed at conception and matter for the educational attainment of individuals. Do investments in schooling environments mitigate or magnify the outcomes of this genetic lottery? Using data from a representative sample of US adolescents, we analyse the interdependent associations of genetic endowments, teacher quality and teacher quantity with educational attainment. Our results suggest that higher-quality teachers act as substitutes for genetic endowments: a 1 SD increase in teacher quality reduces the positive association between educational attainment and a 1 SD increase in the relevant polygenic score from 0.37 to 0.30 years—a decrease of 20%. In particular, high-quality teachers increase the probability that genetically disadvantaged students complete college. This increase is underpinned by gains in health, language ability, patience, and risk aversion.

Keywords: polygenic scores; school resources; skill formation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I29 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hea, nep-lma and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Working Paper: Genetic Endowments, Educational Outcomes and the Mediating Influence of School Investments (2022)
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