The Promises and Pitfalls of Genoeconomics Daniel J. Benjamin,1 David Cesarini,2 Christopher F. Chabris,3 Edward L. Glaeser,4 and David I. Laibson4 Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility-Reykjavik Study Vilmundur Guðnason,5 Tamara B. Harris,6 Lenore J. Launer,6 Shaun Purcell,7 and Albert Vernon Smith5 Swedish Twin Registry Magnus Johannesson8 and Patrik K.E. Magnusson9 Framingham Heart Study Jonathan P. Beauchamp10 and Nicholas A. Christakis11 Wisconsin Longitudinal Study Craig S. Atwood,12 Benjamin Hebert,13 Jeremy Freese,14 Robert M. Hauser,15 and Taissa S. Hauser15 Swedish Large Schizophrenia Study Alexander Grankvist,9 Christina M. Hultman,9 and Paul Lichtenstein9
Annu. Rev. Econ. 2012. 4:627–62 Keywords First published online as a Review in Advance on genetics, heritability, GWAS June 18, 2012
The Annual Review of Economics is online at Abstract economics.annualreviews.org This article reviews existing research at the intersection of genetics This article’s doi: and economics, presents some new findings that illustrate the state of 10.1146/annurev-economics-080511-110939 genoeconomics research, and surveys the prospects of this emerging Copyright © 2012 by Annual Reviews. field. Twin studies suggest that economic outcomes and preferences, All rights reserved once corrected for measurement error, appear to be about as herita- JEL codes: A12, D03, Z00 ble as many medical conditions and personality traits. Consistent by Harvard University on 09/19/12. For personal use only. 1941-1383/12/0904-0627$20.00 with this pattern, we present new evidence on the heritability of