Gene-Environment Complementarity in Educational Attainment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Muslimova, Dilnoza; van Kippersluis, Hans; Rietveld, Cornelius A.; von Hinke, Stephanie; Meddens, S. Fleur W.
• 署名单位: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Erasmus University Rotterdam - Excl Erasmus MC; Erasmus University Rotterdam; Tinbergen Institute; University of Bristol; University of Oxford
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/734087
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: vietnam-era conscription; GENOME-WIDE-ASSOCIATION; birth-order; mendelian randomization; family-size; TECHNOLOGY; outcomes; HEALTH; siblings; time

摘要

Firstborns, on average, complete more education than laterborns. We study whether individuals' endowments measured by genetic information amplify this effect. Our family fixed effects approach exploits exogenous variation in birth order and genetic endowments among 14,850 siblings in the UK Biobank. We find that those with higher genetic endowments benefit disproportionately more from being firstborn compared with those with lower endowments-a clean example of how nature and nurture interact in producing human capital. Since parental investments are a dominant channel driving birth order effects, our results are consistent with complementarity between endowments and investments in human capital formation.