DP20221 Gene x Environment Interactions: Polygenic Scores and the Impact of an Early Childhood Intervention in Colombia

• Orazio Attanasio Gabriella Conti Pamela Jervis Costas Meghir Aysu Okbay
9 May 2025

We evaluate impacts heterogeneity of an Early Childhood Intervention in Colombia, with respect to the Educational Attainment Polygenic Score (EA4 PGS) constructed from DNA data based on GWAS weights from a European population. We find that the EA4 PGS is predictive of several measures of child development, mother’s IQ and, to some extent, educational attainment. We also show that the impacts of the intervention are significantly greater in children with low PGS, to the point that the intervention eliminates the initial genetic disadvantage. Lastly, we find that children with high PGS attract more parental stimulation; however, the latter increases more strongly in children with low PGS.