Episode guests
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Quick takeaways
- Genetics significantly influence social outcomes and social status is highly heritable, impacting social mobility.
- Genetic assortment in marriages has remained consistent over centuries in England, shaping social abilities and outcomes.
- The social science community faces resistance towards genetic explanations despite strong empirical evidence supporting genetic influences.
- Research challenges traditional views on social interventions, highlighting the impact of genetics on social outcomes and social mobility.
Deep dives
Genetic Influence on Social Mobility
Additive genetic models suggest that genetics play a significant role in determining social outcomes over generations. Studies show that social status is highly heritable, with a strong correlation observed between relatives' social outcomes. This suggests that genetics may have a significant impact on social mobility and outcomes.
Social Dynamics and Genetic Assortment in Marriage
Research indicates a high degree of genetic assortment in marriages, with couples exhibiting close genetic correlation in terms of social abilities. This genetic assortment has remained consistent over centuries in England, influencing social status and outcomes.
Challenges in Acceptance of Genetic Explanations
Despite strong empirical evidence supporting genetic influences on social outcomes, the social science community struggles with accepting genetic explanations. There is a notable resistance towards exploring genetic factors in social mobility and outcomes.
Implications for Social Policies and Research Bias
The research findings challenge traditional views on social interventions by highlighting the role of genetics in social outcomes. However, there is a bias in the research community towards publishing results that support the effectiveness of social interventions, hindering the acceptance of genetic explanations.
Future Directions in Genetic Studies of Social Dynamics
While research demonstrates the impact of genetics on social mobility, there remains a reluctance within the social science community to delve into genetic explanations. The emergence of robust polygenic predictors in genomics offers valuable insights into understanding social outcomes and mobility based on genetic influences.
Genetics and Social Mobility
The episode delves into the impact of genetics on social outcomes, particularly in comparing educational and cognitive inequalities between the United States and Denmark. Despite Denmark having extensive social programs, cognitive test scores and college completion rates show similar patterns based on parental income rank in both countries. This challenges the notion that increased social programs lead to significant improvements in social outcomes.
Evolutionary Insights and Social Structures
The conversation explores the evolutionary implications of differential reproductive rates between social classes and how this can influence the population's distribution of abilities over time. By analyzing historical data on fertility rates and educational backgrounds, the episode highlights shifts in social mobility trends and the potential rapid evolutionary changes influenced by societal structures.
Gregory Clark is Distinguished Professor of Economics at UC-Davis. He is an editor of the European Review of Economic History, chair of the steering committee of the All-UC Group in Economic History, and a Research Associate of the Center for Poverty Research at Davis. He was educated at Cambridge University and received a PhD from Harvard University.
His areas of research are long-term economic growth, the wealth of nations, economic history, and social mobility.
Steve and Greg discuss:
0:00 Introduction
2:31 Background in economics and genetics
10:25 The role of genetics in determining social outcomes
16:27 Measuring social status through marriage and occupation
36:15 Assortative mating and the industrial revolution
49:38 Criticisms of empirical data, engagement on genetics and economic history
1:12:12 Heckman and Landerso study of social mobility in US vs Denmark
1:24:32 Predicting cognitive traits
1:33:26 Assortative mating and increase in population variance
Links:
For Whom the Bell Curve Tolls: A Lineage of 400,000 English Individuals 1750-2020 shows Genetics Determines most Social Outcomes
http://faculty.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/ClarkGlasgow2021.pdf
Further discussion
https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2021/03/genetic-correlation-of-social-outcomes.html
A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Farewell_to_Alms
The Son Also Rises
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Son_Also_Rises_(book)
Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.
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Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.
Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.
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