Open AccessA polygenic score for educational attainment partially predicts voter turnout
Author(s) -
Christopher T. Dawes,
Aysu Okbay,
Sven Oskarsson,
Aldo Rustichini
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2022715118
Subject(s) - nature versus nurture , inequality , voting , educational attainment , turnout , politics , voter turnout , voting behavior , demographic economics , biology , political science , genetics , economics , mathematics , law , mathematical analysis
Significance The strong correlation between education and voting is among the most robust findings in social science. We show that genes associated with the propensity to acquire education are also associated with higher voter turnout. A within-family analysis suggests education-linked genes exert direct effects on voter turnout but also reveals evidence of genetic nurture in second-order elections. Our findings have important implications for the study of political inequality. Scholars have argued that parental education is the main driver of the reproduction of political inequality across generations. By separating the effect of genes from parental nurturing, our findings suggest that the roots of individual-level political inequality run deeper than family background.