Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/272752 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16125
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
A large literature establishes that cognitive and non-cognitive skills are strongly correlated with educational attainment and professional achievement. Isolating the causal effects of these traits on career outcomes is made difficult by reverse causality and selection issues. We suggest a different approach: instead of using direct measures of individual traits, we use differences between individuals in the presence of genetic variants that are associated with differences in skills and personality traits. Genes are fixed over the life cycle and genetic differences between full siblings are random, making it possible to establish the causal effects of within-family genetic variation. We link genetic data from individuals in the Swedish Twin Registry to government registry data and find evidence for causal effects of genetic differences linked to cognitive skills, personality traits, and economic preferences on professional achievement and educational attainment. Our results also demonstrate that education and labor market outcomes are partially the result of a genetic lottery.
Subjects: 
personality traits
economic preferences
cognitive skills
labor markets
education
polygenic indices
JEL: 
J24
D91
I26
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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