GENIO · Genetic contributions to inequality of opportunity
„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“
- Период
- 2021-09-16 → 2023-09-15
- Финансиране от ЕС
- 212 934 €
- Участници
- 1
- Схема
- MSCA-IF
Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.
Накратко на български
Генетичният принос към неравенството при достъпа до образование се анализира чрез сравнение между деца с еднакви резултати, но различен социален статус. Това помага да се разбере доколко семейният доход, а не биологията, ограничава възможностите на хората.
Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.
Резултати накратко
Genetic contributions to inequality of opportunity
In a fully egalitarian society, access to education should not be restricted by social background. In many contemporary societies, this goal remains unmet: children from low income households with high standardized test or exam scores are less likely to attend college than children with equal test scores from high income households. However, eliminating family resources as a source of unequal access may still leave inequality of opportunity based on another family factor: genetics. In this project, I apply both traditional and novel econometric techniques to measure and visualise genetic contributions to inequality of opportunity, and to measure the equality of opportunity gap in the United States and the United Kingdom. To measure childhood deprivation as a contributor of inequality of opportunity in middle-aged adults currently living in the UK, I digitise historical records relating to unemployment and (infant) mortality to generate a novel deprivation index. Finally, I quantify the boundaries of predicting individual outcomes with genetic data by showing that the statistical choices made to create the genetic profiles greatly determines where an individual is placed on the genetic spectrum. I have developed a new methodological framework for quantifying and visualising genetic contributions to inequality of opportunity, and use a dataset from the United States to show that inequality of opportunity is mainly affected by family socioeconomic status. If environmental factors did not play a role in educational outcomes, the average US individual in the dataset would have been 1.9 years more educated – quantifying the equality of opportunity gap. I also find that genetic information cannot be used to predict individuals’ life outcomes such as educational attainment, and show that this will also not be possible in the direct future. Furthermore, I show that how the lack of precision for predicting individuals’ outcomes with genetic data can affect future clinical studies that aim to corporate polygenic scores in medical decision making processes, using a concrete example from personalised drug treatment for cardiovascular disease.
Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз
Цел на проекта
Equal access to college education is a hallmark of egalitarian societies. This is not the case in both the United Kingdom and United States: children from low income households with high standardized test or exam scores are less likely to attend college than children with equal test scores from high income households. However, eliminating family income as a source of unequal college access may still leave inequality of opportunity to attend college and accordingly to accumulate wealth based on another family factor: genetics. Educational attainment is partially heritable, and recent studies have identified specific genetic variants. Despite both a longstanding debate and recent interest in the topic, there is no methodological framework for studying genetic contributions to inequality of opportunity. The first aim of the project is to develop this methodological framework [OB1] by exploiting bioinformatics techniques to measure genetic endowments, econometric techniques to measure returns to genes and inequality of opportunity, and by using sociological theory to interpret the findings and address any normative implications [WP1]. The considered outcomes are income, wealth, and overall health and well-being, as higher educated individuals typically enjoy longer, healthier, and happier lives in addition to higher incomes and accumulated wealth. The second aim [OB2] of the project is to apply this methodological framework to visualize how socioeconomic inequality of opportunity varies by sex and geographic location [WP2]. The third aim of the project [OB3] is explore how the population-level applications developed in [WP1] and [WP2] carry over to the individual level [WP3]. The project crosses disciplinary boundaries by incorporating knowledge and tools from genomics, econometrics, epidemiology, and sociology.
Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).
Участници
- THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD · OxfordКоординаторОбединеното кралство
Връзки
Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз