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Heritability of lifetime earnings

Author

Listed:
  • Ari Hyytinen

    (Hanken School of Economics
    Finland and Helsinki GSE)

  • Pekka Ilmakunnas

    (Finland and Helsinki GSE
    Aalto University School of Business)

  • Edvard Johansson

    (Åbo Akademi University)

  • Otto Toivanen

    (Finland and Helsinki GSE
    Aalto University School of Business)

Abstract

Using twenty years of earnings data on Finnish twins, we find that about 40% of the variance of women’s and little more than half of men’s lifetime labour earnings are linked to genetic factors. The contribution of the shared environment is negligible. We show that the result is robust to using alternative definitions of earnings, to adjusting for the role of education, and to measurement errors in the measure of genetic relatedness.

Suggested Citation

  • Ari Hyytinen & Pekka Ilmakunnas & Edvard Johansson & Otto Toivanen, 2019. "Heritability of lifetime earnings," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(3), pages 319-335, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecin:v:17:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s10888-019-09413-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10888-019-09413-x
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