Andrew Van Dam - It’s better to be born rich than gifted

The least-gifted children of high-income parents graduate from college at higher rates than the most-gifted children of low-income parents.

On blog I was on recently the libertarians were getting out of hand and all over themselves because genetic researchers had found that intelligence was inherited down on the mother's side. They believed this proved that intelligence was genetically determined.

Our schools are getting dumber, some British conservatives said, because grammar schools had been abolished in the UK, so bright kids just weren't getting the education they needed. I do believe children should be streamed, so they that brighter children can be in the same class.

 Anyway, it turns out that children from the lower classes are just as bright as children from the higher classes, but environment, good nutrician, and upbringing makes all the difference to how children score in IQ tests. There are genetic differences between people for intelligence, but not between the classes, and environment is just as important as genes as to whether you will do well at school. 

A revolution in genomics is creeping into economics. It allows us to say something we might have suspected, but could never confirm: money trumps genes.

Using one new, genome-based measure, economists found genetic endowments are distributed almost equally among children in low-income and high-income families. Success is not.

The figures above come from a new, genome-based study of economic data which aims straight at the heart of the popular conception of America as a meritocracy.

“It goes against the narrative that there are substantial genetic differences between people who are born into wealthy households and those born into poverty,” said Kevin Thom, a New York University economist and author of a related working paper released recently by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

“If you don’t have the family resources, even the bright kids — the kids who are naturally gifted — are going to have to face uphill battles,” Thom said.

Washington Post

Andrew Van Dam - It’s better to be born rich than gifted