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Molecular Genetics and Subjective Well-Being

Author

Listed:
  • Meike Bartels
  • Daniel J. Benjamin
  • David Cesarini
  • Jan-Emmanuel De Neve
  • Magnus Johannesson
  • Philipp D. Koellinger
  • Robert F. Krueger
  • Patrik K. E. Magnusson
  • Nancy L. Pedersen
  • Cornelius A. Rietveld
  • Henning Tiemeier

Abstract

Subjective well-being (SWB) is a major topic of research across the social sciences. Twin and family studies have found that genetic factors may account for as much as 30-40% of the variance in SWB. Here, we study genetic contributions to SWB in a pooled sample of ~11,500 unrelated, comprehensively-genotyped Swedish and Dutch individuals. We apply a recently-developed method to estimate "common narrow heritability": the fraction of variance in SWB that can be explained by the cumulative additive effects of genetic polymorphisms that are common in the population. Our estimates are 5-10% for single-question survey measures of SWB, and 12-18% after correction for measurement error in the SWB measures. Our results suggest guarded optimism about the prospects of using genetic data in SWB research because, while the common narrow heritability is not large, the polymorphisms that contribute to it could feasibly be discovered with a sufficiently large sample of individuals.

Suggested Citation

  • Meike Bartels & Daniel J. Benjamin & David Cesarini & Jan-Emmanuel De Neve & Magnus Johannesson & Philipp D. Koellinger & Robert F. Krueger & Patrik K. E. Magnusson & Nancy L. Pedersen & Cornelius A. , 2013. "Molecular Genetics and Subjective Well-Being," CEP Discussion Papers dp1225, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1225
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    Cited by:

    1. De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel & Fowler, James H., 2014. "Credit card borrowing and the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PB), pages 428-439.
    2. Crispin H. V. Cooper, 2020. "Quantitative Models of Well-Being to Inform Policy: Problems and Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-13, April.
    3. Ronald de Vlaming & Aysu Okbay & Cornelius A Rietveld & Magnus Johannesson & Patrik K E Magnusson & André G Uitterlinden & Frank J A van Rooij & Albert Hofman & Patrick J F Groenen & A Roy Thurik & Ph, 2017. "Meta-GWAS Accuracy and Power (MetaGAP) Calculator Shows that Hiding Heritability Is Partially Due to Imperfect Genetic Correlations across Studies," PLOS Genetics, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(1), pages 1-23, January.
    4. Steven F. Lehrer & Weili Ding, 2017. "Are genetic markers of interest for economic research?," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-23, December.
    5. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve & Ed Diener & Louis Tay & Cody Xuereb, 2013. "The Objective Benefits of Subjective Well-Being," CEP Discussion Papers dp1236, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    subjective well-being; heritability; genetics; GREML;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General

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