Genetic markers as instrumental variables: an application to child fat mass and academic achievement

Debbie A. Lawlor, Carol Propper, Stephanie von Hinke and George Davey Smith
Additional contact information
Debbie A. Lawlor: Institute for Fiscal Studies
George Davey Smith: Institute for Fiscal Studies
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Frank Windmeijer

No CWP03/10, CeMMAP working papers from Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies

Abstract: The use of genetic markers as instrumental variables (IV) is receiving increasing attention from economists. This paper examines the conditions that need to be met for genetic variants to be used as instruments. We combine the IV literature with that from genetic epidemiology, with an application to child adiposity (fat mass, determined by a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan) and academic performance. OLS results indicate that leaner children perform slightly better in school tests compared to their more adipose counterparts, but the IV findings show no evidence that fat mass affects academic outcomes.

Date: 2010-03-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cmp, nep-ecm, nep-lam and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Genetic Markers as Instrumental Variables:An Application to Child Fat Mass and Academic Achievement (2010)
Working Paper: Genetic markers as instrumental variables: an application to child fat mass and academic achievement (2010)
Working Paper: Genetic Markers as Instrumental Variables: An Application to Child Fat Mass and Academic Achievement (2009)
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