A Chip Off the Old Block? Genetics and the Intergenerational Transmission of Socioeconomic Status

Progress in understanding the role of genetics in intergenerational socioeconomic persistence has been hampered by challenges of measurement and identification. We examine how the genetics of one generation influences the SES of the next by linking genetic data from the Dutch Lifelines Cohort to tax records for 2006-2022. Our genetic measure is the polygenic index (PGI) for educational attainment. To isolate causal genetic effects, we exploit randomness in genetic transmission across generations. One generation’s genetics impacts the education, income, and wealth of the next. A 10-percentile increase in one generation’s PGI raises next generation’s education by 0.11 years. “Next-generation genetic effects” are also large relative to “same-generation genetic effects”: a 10-percentile increase in a person’s PGI raises their income by 0.9 percentiles and their child’s by 0.7 percentiles, indicating strong persistence across generations. We next turn to mechanisms: about half of next-generation genetic effects reflect direct genetic inheritance (“genetic transmission”). The remainder operates through environmental pathways (“genetic nurture”): one generation’s genetics shapes the circumstances in which the next is raised. This environmental channel is reinforced by assortative mating: high-PGI individuals select more-educated, higher-earning partners. Our findings underscore that genetics is one of the forces anchoring SES across generations.