arXiv subjects

Cornelius A. Rietveld

Publications and source records attributed to Cornelius A. Rietveld.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Sources of Inequality at Birth: The Interplay Between Genes and Parental Socioeconomic Status

The start of a human's life can be characterized by two lotteries: that of your genes (nature) and the family you were born into (nurture). These set in motion a trajectory, from birth onward, in health and human capital. Leveraging three longitudinal social-science data sets, we systematically analyze the relationship between an individual's genotype, the socioeconomic status (SES) of the families they grew up in, and their realized traits in adulthood. We proxy an individual's genetic predisposition by polygenic indexes (PGIs) and family SES by a latent factor of parental education and father's (former) occupational status. We then investigate how PGIs, parental SES, and their interaction contribute to later-life outcomes across a range of forty-five socioeconomic, anthropometric, health, behavioral, and personality traits. We find strong genetic and socioeconomic associations with these phenotypes, but no evidence of sizable gene-environment interactions.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2023

Nature-nurture interplay in educational attainment

This paper shows how nature (i.e., one's genetic endowments) and nurture (i.e., one's environment) interact in producing educational attainment. Genetic endowments are measured using a polygenic score for educational attainment, while we use birth order as an important environmental determinant of educational attainment. Since genetic endowments are randomly assigned within-families and orthogonal to one's birth order, our family fixed effects approach exploits exogenous variation in genetic endowments as well as environments. We find that those with higher genetic endowments benefit disproportionally more from being firstborn compared to those with lower genetic endowments.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2022

Gene-Environment Interplay in the Social Sciences

Nature (one's genes) and nurture (one's environment) jointly contribute to the formation and evolution of health and human capital over the life cycle. This complex interplay between genes and environment can be estimated and quantified using genetic information readily available in a growing number of social science data sets. Using genetic data to improve our understanding of individual decision making, inequality, and to guide public policy is possible and promising, but requires a grounding in essential genetic terminology, knowledge of the literature in economics and social-science genetics, and a careful discussion of the policy implications and prospects of the use of genetic data in the social sciences and economics.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2022

A critical assessment of the National Entrepreneurship Context Index of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor

Data collected through the National Expert Survey (NES) of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) are widely used to assess the quality and impact of national entrepreneurial ecosystems. By focusing on the measurement of the National Entrepreneurship Context Index (NECI), we argue and show that the subjective nature of the responses of the national experts precludes meaningful cross-country analyses and cross-country rankings. Moreover, we show that the limited precision of the NECI severely constraints the longitudinal assessment of within-country trends. We provide recommendations for the current use of NECI data and suggestions for future NES data collections.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2022

The Economics and Econometrics of Gene-Environment Interplay

Economists and social scientists have debated the relative importance of nature (one's genes) and nurture (one's environment) for decades, if not centuries. This debate can now be informed by the ready availability of genetic data in a growing number of social science datasets. This paper explores the potential uses of genetic data in economics, with a focus on estimating the interplay between nature (genes) and nurture (environment). We discuss how economists can benefit from incorporating genetic data into their analyses even when they do not have a direct interest in estimating genetic effects. We argue that gene--environment (GxE) studies can be instrumental for (i) testing economic theory, (ii) uncovering economic or behavioral mechanisms, and (iii) analyzing treatment effect heterogeneity, thereby improving the understanding of how (policy) interventions affect population subgroups. We introduce the reader to essential genetic terminology, develop a conceptual economic model to interpret gene-environment interplay, and provide practical guidance to empirical researchers.

econ.GN↗