Nature/Nurture

Bad news: Abundant adoption and twin studies find minimal long-run nurture effects.  In plain language: The family that raises you has little effect on your adult outcomes.  A key caveat, though, is that almost all of these studies come from the First World. 

Looking at immigrant families in the U.S., children of immigrants have markedly greater educational success than you would expect given their foreign-born parent's education.  While children always tend to resemble their parents, the resemblance is stronger when both child and parent are native-born. A new study suggests why and it is surprising: It is not the success of the child, if is the limits of the parent.

The National Academy of Sciences all-new report on The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration, according to Caplan, does provide data comparing the U.S. to other countries.

If you grew up in a relatively deprived American home, adoption and twin research imply that your educational success would have barely changed.  If you grew up in an absolutely deprived non-American home, however, your educational success would have been markedly worse - masking your underlying genetic potential.

 

So the success of the child of immigrant parents is a reflection of the opportunities the country offers; unlike his parents, he is allowed to develop. If you grew up in a relatively deprived American home, adoption and twin research imply that your educational success would have barely changed.

If you grew up in an absolutely deprived non-American home, however, your educational success would have been markedly worse - masking your underlying genetic potential.  The broader but still provisional lesson: Nurture matters after all. 

 

If you muse about the possible dynamics here, the implications are stunning.

This country may attract people who are capable and know they have not been allowed to flower. Immigration might be a truly successful filter system for the nation.