Is your future income written in your DNA? wiringthebrain.com/2019/12/is-you… - some thoughts on the recent "genetics of income" paper 
Paper is here: Genome-wide analysis identifies molecular systems and 149 genetic loci associated with income nature.com/articles/s4146… by @WDavidHill + colleagues
@WDavidHill The authors have been taking some flack on Twitter for this paper, as if the very idea of genetic effects on income is ludicrous or offensive or even irresponsible to utter
@WDavidHill I have some scientific criticisms of the paper wiringthebrain.com/2019/12/is-you…, and some thoughts on how some of the conclusions are phrased, but the idea that income is *partly* heritable is not the least outlandish
@WDavidHill All kinds of life outcomes are *partly* heritable because they are influence by our psychological traits, which are themselves *partly* heritable
@WDavidHill For income, there is a plausible chain, for example, from the trait of intelligence to educational attainment to eventual income. This is what @WDavidHill et al set out to explore
@WDavidHill That does NOT mean that income is genetically *determined* or that other (social, environmental) factors don't play a huge role. Just that genetic differences play a role too...
@WDavidHill How big of a role genetics plays in income, and how we should think about it, are some of the questions that the paper tackles and that I discuss here: wiringthebrain.com/2019/12/is-you…
@WDavidHill One of my criticisms is that the paper does not take account of gene-environment correlations, which we know are at play across generations. I think the causal pathway figure should be more complex:
@WDavidHill Also, I am less inclined than the authors to think that the analyses of the associated genes is really illuminating. They're not linked to particular biochemistry and not really specifically expressed (though enriched in brain)
@WDavidHill That lack of specificity is not a surprise: Wired that way: genes do shape behaviours but it's complicated – aeon.co/ideas/wired-th… via @aeonmag
@WDavidHill @aeonmag I also would quibble with the very optimistic stance they present on their ability to predict income using a polygenic score:
@WDavidHill @aeonmag I guess it depends on whether you see the glass as 2% full or 98% empty, but I think you could see those data and conclude the exact opposite: that the link between genotype and phenotype is NOT sufficient to make predictions, based on DNA alone.
@WDavidHill @aeonmag At least if the phrase "make predictions" is taken to mean "make accurate predictions", which seems like a reasonable reading.
@WDavidHill @aeonmag And for some related discussion of the entangled interplay of nature and nurture, see this recent article I wrote with @utafrith : theconversation.com/nature-versus-…
