The Nature and Nurture of Economic Outcomes

Sacerdote, Bruce

The Nature and Nurture of Economic Outcomes

No 7949, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper uses data on adopted children to examine the relative importance of biology and environment in determining educational and labor market outcomes. I employ three long-term panel data sets which contain information on adopted children, their adoptive parents, and their biological parents. In at least two of the three data sets, the mechanism for assigning children to adoptive parents is fairly random and does not match children to adoptive parents based on health, race, or ability. I find that adoptive parents' education and income have a modest impact on child test scores but a large impact on college attendance, marital status, and earnings. In contrast with existing work on IQ scores, I do not find that the influence of adoptive parents declines with child age.

JEL-codes: I2 J0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000-10
Note: CH LS
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

Published as Sacerdote, Bruce. "The Nature and Nurture of Economic Outcomes." American Economic Review 92, 2 (May 2002): 344-48.

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