New Genetics Study Reveals Environment and Policy Match DNA's Impact on Education and Income

A recent essay by James Pethokoukis, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, challenges Silicon Valley's growing fascination with "smart babies" by highlighting a new genetics study that underscores the profound influence of environment and policy on socioeconomic outcomes. Pethokoukis's analysis, published on his "Faster, Please!" Substack, emphasizes that while DNA sets the stage, societal factors are equally crucial in shaping an individual's educational attainment and income.

Pethokoukis stated in his tweet, "Silicon Valley bets on 'smart babies,' but a new genetics study shows a more grounded truth: DNA shapes education and income, yet environment and policy matter just as much. Genes set the stage, society writes the script. DNA is directional, not destiny." This perspective pushes back against the trend among some tech elites who are investing in embryo screening and genetic tests to predict IQ and other traits, a practice detailed in a Wall Street Journal report on "Inside Silicon Valley’s Growing Obsession With Having Smarter Babies." Companies like Orchid Health, Nucleus Genomics, and Herasight offer polygenic scoring for IVF embryos, analyzing thousands of genetic variants.

The essay references a new National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper, "A Chip Off the Old Block? Genetics and the Intergenerational Transmission of Socioeconomic Status." Authored by Sjoerd van Alten, Silvia H. Barcellos, Leandro Carvalho, Titus J. Galama, and Marina Aguiar Palma, the study utilized Dutch tax records and genetic data from the Lifelines Biobank. It found that genetics significantly influence education, income, and wealth, not only through direct biological inheritance but also via the environments parents create.

The NBER study's findings indicate that approximately half of the intergenerational effect on socioeconomic status stems from "genetic nurture," meaning the environmental advantages provided by parents with beneficial genetic predispositions. For instance, a 10 percent increase in a parent's genetic score for education correlates with their child staying in school about an extra month. Pethokoukis concludes that these findings suggest that "the surer route to a smarter America runs through better schools and stronger neighborhoods, not just brainier embryos," advocating for public policies that strengthen environmental factors.