IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intell/v92y2022ics016028962200023x.html

Not by g alone: The benefits of a college education among individuals with low levels of general cognitive ability

Author

Listed:
  • McGue, Matt
  • Anderson, Elise L.
  • Willoughby, Emily
  • Giannelis, Alexandros
  • Iacono, William G.
  • Lee, James J.

Abstract

In a longitudinal sample of 2593 individuals from Minnesota, we investigated whether individuals with IQs ≤ 90 who completed college experienced the same social and economic benefits higher-IQ college graduates did. Although most individuals with IQs ≤ 90 did not have a college degree, the rate at which they completed college had increased approximately 6-fold in men and 10-fold in women relative to rates in the previous generation. The magnitude of the college effect on occupational status, income, financial independence, and law abidingness was independent of IQ level, a finding replicated using the nationally representative NLSY97 sample. Additional analyses suggested the association of college with occupational status was consistent with a causal effect and that the educational success of individuals with low-average IQs may depend in part on non-ability factors, family socioeconomic status and genetic endowment. We discuss our finding in the context of the recent expansion in college attainment as well as the dearth of research on individuals with low-average IQs.

Suggested Citation

  • McGue, Matt & Anderson, Elise L. & Willoughby, Emily & Giannelis, Alexandros & Iacono, William G. & Lee, James J., 2022. "Not by g alone: The benefits of a college education among individuals with low levels of general cognitive ability," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:92:y:2022:i:c:s016028962200023x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2022.101642
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016028962200023X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intell.2022.101642?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heckman, James J. & Kautz, Tim, 2012. "Hard evidence on soft skills," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 451-464.
    2. Jeffrey T. Denning & Eric R. Eide & Kevin Mumford & Richard W. Patterson & Merrill Warnick, 2021. "Why Have College Completion Rates Increased? An Analysis of Rising Grades," NBER Working Papers 28710, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Lisa G. Smithers & Alyssa C. P. Sawyer & Catherine R. Chittleborough & Neil M. Davies & George Davey Smith & John W. Lynch, 2018. "A systematic review and meta-analysis of effects of early life non-cognitive skills on academic, psychosocial, cognitive and health outcomes," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(11), pages 867-880, November.
    4. Hertz Tom & Jayasundera Tamara & Piraino Patrizio & Selcuk Sibel & Smith Nicole & Verashchagina Alina, 2008. "The Inheritance of Educational Inequality: International Comparisons and Fifty-Year Trends," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-48, January.
    5. Caroline M. Hoxby, 2009. "The Changing Selectivity of American Colleges," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(4), pages 95-118, Fall.
    6. Hegelund, Emilie Rune & Flensborg-Madsen, Trine & Dammeyer, Jesper & Mortensen, Erik Lykke, 2018. "Low IQ as a predictor of unsuccessful educational and occupational achievement: A register-based study of 1,098,742 men in Denmark 1968–2016," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 46-53.
    7. Ashenfelter, Orley & Krueger, Alan B, 1994. "Estimates of the Economic Returns to Schooling from a New Sample of Twins," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1157-1173, December.
    8. Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2005. "The Relationship Between Education and Adult Mortality in the United States," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(1), pages 189-221.
    9. Card, David, 2001. "Estimating the Return to Schooling: Progress on Some Persistent Econometric Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(5), pages 1127-1160, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giannelis, Alexandros & Willoughby, Emily A. & Corley, Robin & Hopfer, Christian & Hewitt, John K. & Iacono, William G. & Anderson, Jacob & Rustichini, Aldo & Vrieze, Scott I. & McGue, Matt & Lee, Jam, 2023. "The association between saving disposition and financial distress: A genetically informed approach," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chalfin, Aaron & Deza, Monica, 2019. "The intergenerational effects of education on delinquency," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 553-571.
    2. Gregorio Caetano & Miguel Palacios & Harry A. Patrinos, 2019. "Measuring Aversion to Debt: An Experiment Among Student Loan Candidates," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 117-131, March.
    3. Berger, Johannes & Strohner, Ludwig, 2020. "Documentation of the PUblic Policy Model for Austria and other European countries (PUMA)," Research Papers 11, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Holmlund, Helena, 2007. "A Researcher's Guide to the Swedish Compulsory School Reform," Working Paper Series 9/2007, Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research.
    5. Philip Oreopoulos & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2009. "How large are returns to schooling? Hint: Money isn't everything," NBER Working Papers 15339, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Bacalhau, Priscilla & Mattos, Enlinson & Ponczek, Vladimir Pinheiro, 2019. "College quality signaling and individual performance: effects on labor market outcomes after graduation," Textos para discussão 502, FGV EESP - Escola de Economia de São Paulo, Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil).
    7. Joseph Ferrie & Catherine Massey & Jonathan Rothbaum, 2016. "Do Grandparents and Great-Grandparents Matter? Multigenerational Mobility in the US, 1910-2013," NBER Working Papers 22635, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Leonardo Becchetti & Pierluigi Conzo & Fabio Pisani, 2018. "Education and health in Europe," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(12), pages 1362-1377, March.
    9. Bhuller, Manudeep & Mogstad, Magne & Salvanes, Kjell G., 2011. "Life-Cycle Bias and the Returns to Schooling in Current and Lifetime Earnings," IZA Discussion Papers 5788, IZA Network @ LISER.
    10. Raquel Fonseca Benito & Yuhui Zheng, 2011. "The Effect of Education on Health Cross-Country Evidence," Working Papers WR-864, RAND Corporation.
    11. Klein, Roger & Vella, Francis, 2006. "Estimating the Return to Endogenous Schooling Decisions for Australian Workers via Conditional Second Moments," IZA Discussion Papers 2407, IZA Network @ LISER.
    12. Heckman, James J. & Humphries, John Eric & Veramendi, Gregory & Urzua, Sergio, 2014. "Education, Health and Wages," IZA Discussion Papers 8027, IZA Network @ LISER.
    13. Ryan D. Edwards, 2016. "Health, SES, and the timing of education among military retirees," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 393-410, August.
    14. Dursun, Bahadır & Cesur, Resul & Mocan, Naci, 2018. "The Impact of Education on Health Outcomes and Behaviors in a Middle-Income, Low-Education Country," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 94-114.
    15. Will Dobbie & Roland G. Fryer, Jr, 2009. "Are High Quality Schools Enough to Close the Achievement Gap? Evidence from a Social Experiment in Harlem," NBER Working Papers 15473, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Kahlil Philander & Susan J. Roe, 2013. "The Impact of Wage Rate Growth on Tourism Competitiveness," Tourism Economics, , vol. 19(4), pages 823-834, August.
    17. Guido W. Imbens, 2020. "Potential Outcome and Directed Acyclic Graph Approaches to Causality: Relevance for Empirical Practice in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1129-1179, December.
    18. Karine Constant, 2015. "Environmental Policy and Inequality: A Matter of Life and Death," AMSE Working Papers 1527, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    19. Stupnytska, Yuliia & Zaharieva, Anna, 2015. "Explaining U-shape of the referral hiring pattern in a search model with heterogeneous workers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 211-233.
    20. Susan Dynarski, 2008. "Building the Stock of College-Educated Labor," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(3), pages 576-610.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:92:y:2022:i:c:s016028962200023x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/intelligence .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.