Bell Curve globalized?

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Fri May 28 06:25:54 PDT 1999


[from the Social Science Research Network's development working paper abstracts]

"Genetics, Family Structure, and Economic Growth"

BY: PAUL J. ZAK

Claremont Graduate University

Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection:

http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=161510

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ftp://cgsftp.cgs.edu/pub/papers/zakp/gene.pdf

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Date: April 15, 1999

Contact: PAUL J. ZAK

Email: Mailto:paul.zak at cgu.edu

Postal: Claremont Graduate University

Claremont, CA 91711-6165 USA

Phone: (909)621-8788

Fax: (909)621-8460

ABSTRACT:

Recent biomedical research shows that roughly three-quarters of

cognitive abilities are attributable to genetics and family

environment. This paper presents a theory of growth in which

human capital is determined by inheritable factors and family

size. The distribution of income is shown to affect the number

of births, with greater inequality raising the fertility rate

and reducing output growth in the transitional dynamics. If

human or physical stocks are sufficiently low, the model shows

that an economy can be caught in a fertility-caused poverty

trap, while countries with more resources will converge to a

balanced growth path where the average rate of transmission of

human capital from parents to children determines the long-run

rate of output growth.

JEL Classification: D9, J13



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