Thrilled to see this joint work out!
Big thanks to my amazing coauthors: Silvia Barcellos, Leandro Carvalho, Titus Galama, and Marina Aguiar Palma. (8/8)

Key takeaway:
Even variation rooted in nature—our genes—exerts much of its influence through nurture. (7/8)

We quantify these three channels and find:
- Direct genetic transmission and genetic nurture both play substantial roles
- Assortative mating is comparatively minor
- For wealth outcomes, genetic nurture > direct transmission (6/8)

This shows parental genes matter not only through direct inheritance but also via:
- Genetic nurture – how parental genes shape the child’s environment
- Assortative mating – non-random partnering patterns (5/8)

Our findings: "next-generation" effects of parental PGI on children's outcomes are surprisingly large, as compared to "same-generation" effects (the effects of the parent's PGI on their own socioeconomic status). (4/8)

To isolate causality, we exploit the natural randomization of genes at conception, conditioning on grandparents’ PGIs.
This lets us separate pure genetic transmission from environmental effects. (3/8)

Using a unique linkage of genetic data from Lifelines_NL and administrative records from Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS), we ask:
How do a parent’s genes associated with educational attainment—measured by a polygenic index (PGI)—affect their children’s socioeconomic outcomes? (2/8)

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Agreed! The opportunity for follow-up analyses is endless. One thing I forgot to mention here is that these weights are available in the Returns Catalogue to any researchers who use the UKB, under application# 55154: biobank.ndph.ox.ac.uk/ukb/app.cgi?...