Does higher education protect against obesity? Evidence using Mendelian randomization

Objectives. The aim of this explorative study was to examine the effect of education on obesity using Mendelian randomization. Methods. Participants (N = 2011) were from the on- going nationally representative Young Finns Study (YFS) that began in 1980 when six cohorts (aged 30, 33, 36, 39, 42 and 45 in 2007) were recruited. The average value of BMI (kg/m(2)) measurements in 2007 and 2011 and genetic information were linked to comprehensive register based information on the years of education in 2007. We first used a linear regression (Ordinary Least Squares, OLS) to estimate the relationship between education and BMI. To identify a causal relationship, we exploited Mendelian randomization …

Stature and long-term labor market outcomes: Evidence using Mendelian randomization.

We use the Young Finns Study (N = ∼2000) on the measured height linked to register-based long-term labor market outcomes. The data contain six age cohorts (ages 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18, in 1980) with the average age of 31.7, in 2001, and with the female share of 54.7. We find that taller people earn higher earnings according to the ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation. The OLS models show that 10 cm of extra height is associated with 13% higher earnings. We use Mendelian randomization, with the genetic score as an instrumental variable (IV) for height to account for potential confounders that are related to socioeconomic background, early life conditions and parental investments, which ar…

Body weight and premature retirement: population-based evidence from Finland.

Abstract Background Health status is a principal determinant of labour market participation. In this study, we examined whether excess weight is associated with withdrawal from the labour market owing to premature retirement. Methods The analyses were based on nationally representative data from Finland over the period 2001–15 (N ∼ 2500). The longitudinal data included objective measures of body weight (i.e. body mass index and waist circumference) linked to register-based information on actual retirement age. The association between the body weight measures and premature retirement was modelled using cubic b-splines via logistic regression. The models accounted for other possible risk fact…

Do childhood infections affect labour market outcomes in adulthood and, if so, how?

A burgeoning body of literature suggests that poor childhood health leads to adverse health outcomes. lower educational attainment and weaker labour market outcomes in adulthood. We focus on an important but under-researched topic, which is the role played by infection-related hospitalization (IRH) in childhood and its links to labour market outcomes later in life. The participants aged 24-30 years in 2001 N =1706 were drawn from the Young Finns Study, which includes comprehensive registry data on IRHs in childhood at ages 0-18 years. These data are linked to longitudinal registry information on labour market outcomes (2001-2012) and parental background (1980). The estimations were performe…

Born entrepreneurs? : Adolescents’ personality characteristics and entrepreneurship in adulthood

Is there an entrepreneurial personality, and does it appear early in life? We provide a new answer to this important question by examining traits related to Type A behavior (Aggression, Leadership, Responsibility, and Eagerness-Energy) measured during adolescence and their relationship to entrepreneurship propensity in adulthood. The results indicate that the early-life Leadership dimension is significantly associated with a higher likelihood of 1) becoming an entrepreneur and 2) being more successful as an entrepreneur, as approximated by sales. peerReviewed

Does better education mitigate risky health behavior? A mendelian randomization study.

Education and risky health behaviors are strongly negatively correlated. Education may affect health behaviors by enabling healthier choices through higher disposable income, increasing information about the harmful effects of risky health behaviors, or altering time preferences. Alternatively, the observed negative correlation may stem from reverse causality or unobserved confounders. Based on the data from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study linked to register-based information on educational attainment and family background, this paper identifies the causal effect of education on risky health behaviors. To examine causal effects, we used a genetic score as an instrument for year…

Economic Costs of Obesity in Europe

This chapter summarizes the evidence on the indirect costs of obesity that result from adverse labour market outcomes (i.e., earnings and employment losses) at the individual level. We focus on empirical evidence covering European countries emphasizing the most recent studies in this field. Research has established three key empirical observations. The first fact is that there is a negative link between excess weight and various labour market outcomes. Obesity is linked to significantly lower earnings, lower levels of employment and higher probability of entering sick leave or exiting from paid employment through disability pension. The second fact is that the negative link between excess w…

Education Leads to a More Physically Active Lifestyle : Evidence Based on Mendelian Randomization

Physical inactivity is a major health risk worldwide. Observational studies suggest that higher education is positively related to physical activity, but it is not clear whether this relationship constitutes a causal effect. Using participants (N = 1651) drawn from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study linked to nationwide administrative data from Statistics Finland, this study examined whether educational attainment, measured by years of education, is related to adulthood physical activity in terms of overall physical activity, weekly hours of intensive activity, total steps per day, and aerobic steps per day. We employed ordinary least squares (OLS) models and extended the analysis…

Schizophrenia polygenic risk score and long-term success in the labour market: A cohort study

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors Employment is rare among people with a schizophrenia diagnosis. Meanwhile, a genetic liability for schizophrenia may hinder labour market performance. We studied how the polygenic risk score (PGS) for schizophrenia related to education and labour market outcomes. We found that a higher PGS was linked to lower educational levels and weaker labour market outcomes as well as a higher likelihood of receiving social income transfers, particularly among men. Assuming that the link is causal, our results indicate that individuals with schizophrenia or schizophrenia-related traits have a weakened ability to fully participate in the labour market, potentially …

Health endowment and later-life outcomes in the labour market : Evidence using genetic risk scores and reduced-form models

This paper examines the relationship between health endowment and later-life outcomes in the labour market. The analysis is based on reduced-form models in which labour market outcomes are regressed on genetic variants related to the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. We use linked Finnish data that have many strengths. Genetic risk scores constitute exogenous measures for health endowment, and accurate administrative tax records on earnings, employment and social income transfers provide a comprehensive account of an individual’s long-term performance in the labour market. The results show that although the direction of an effect is generally consistent with theoretical reasoning, …

Childhood Physical Activity and Adulthood Earnings

Purpose: This study examined the associations between childhood physical activity level and adulthood earnings. Methods: The data were drawn from the ongoing longitudinal Young Finns Study, which was combined with register-based Finnish Longitudinal Employer–Employee Data and registerbased parents_ background information from the Longitudinal Population Census of Statistics Finland. The study consisted of children who were 9 yr (n = 1257, 52% boys), 12 yr (n = 1662, 51% boys), and 15 yr (n = 1969, 49% boys) of age at the time when physical activity was measured. The children were followed until 2010, when they were between 33 and 45 yr old. Leisure-time physical activity in childhood was se…

The biometric antecedents to happiness

It has been suggested that biological markers are associated with human happiness. We contribute to the empirical literature by examining the independent association between various aspects of biometric wellbeing measured in childhood and happiness in adulthood. Using Young Finns Study data (n = 1905) and nationally representative linked data we examine whether eight biomarkers measured in childhood (1980) are associated with happiness in adulthood (2001). Using linked data we account for a very rich set of confounders including age, sex, body size, family background, nutritional intake, physical activity, income, education and labour market experiences. We find that there is a negative rel…

Body weight and premature retirement : population-based evidence from Finland

Background Health status is a principal determinant of labour market participation. In this study, we examined whether excess weight is associated with withdrawal from the labour market owing to premature retirement. Methods The analyses were based on nationally representative data from Finland over the period 2001–15 (N ∼ 2500). The longitudinal data included objective measures of body weight (i.e. body mass index and waist circumference) linked to register-based information on actual retirement age. The association between the body weight measures and premature retirement was modelled using cubic b-splines via logistic regression. The models accounted for other possible risk factors and p…

Genetic endowments, parental resources and adult health: Evidence from the Young Finns Study

This paper uses longitudinal survey data linked to administrative registers to examine socioeconomic gradients in health, particularly whether the effects of genetic endowments interact with the socioeconomic resources of the parental household. We find that genetic risk scores contribute to adult health measured by biomarkers. This result is consistent with the findings from genome-wide association studies. Socioeconomic gradients in health differ based on biomarker and resource measures. Family education is negatively related to obesity and the waist-hip ratio, and family income is negatively related to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Parental resources do not…

Is personality related to permanent earnings? Evidence using a twin design

Using twin survey combined with register-based panel data on labor market outcomes, the authors examine the association between personality characteristics and long-term earnings among prime working-age individuals. The long-term earnings were measured over the 1990–2008 period. The sample contains 4,642 twin pairs, of which 53% are females. In contrast to previous studies, this paper uses the within-twin dimension of the data to control for shared family background and confounding genetic factors. The results suggest that unobserved genetic differences may introduce omitted variable bias in standard ordinary least square results. After controlling for shared environment and genetic backgro…

Relative age at school entry, school performance and long-term labour market outcomes

This article examines the impact of relative age at school entry on school performance, educational attainment and labour market outcomes later in life. We find that the advantages of maturity at school entry are short-lived with relative age having no impact on the years of formal education, adulthood earnings or employment. Our findings are consistent with the view that assumes modest maturity effects in countries where formal education begins late and there are no ability-differentiated learning groups at initial grades. peerReviewed

Biomarkers and Long-Term Labour Market Outcomes: The Case of Creatine

I evaluate the impact of the UK Working Time Regulations 1998, which introduced mandatory paid holiday entitlement. The regulation gave (nearly) all workers the right to a minimum of 4 weeks of paid holiday per a year. With constant weekly pay this change amounts effectively to an increase in the real hourly wage of about 8.5% for someone going from 0 to 4 weeks paid holiday per year, which should lead to adjustments in employment. For employees I use complementary log-log regression to account for right-censoring of employment spells. I find no increase in the hazard to exit employment within a year after treatment. Adjustments in wages cannot explain this result as they are increasing for…

The serum copper/zinc ratio in childhood and educational attainment : a population-based study

Background Micronutrients are potentially important determinants of adult outcomes such as educational attainment. Copper and zinc have known effects on several medical conditions and cognitive development. Elevated copper and depressed zinc is a common trace metal imbalance. Methods We estimate the correlation between the copper/zinc ratio (Cu/Zn) in childhood (year 1980) and educational attainment in adulthood (year 2010). We use the Young Finns Study (YFS) combined with the Finnish Linked Employer-Employee Data (FLEED). The regression models account for confounders such as other biomarkers and parental observables. Results We report a sizeable, negative correlation between Cu/Zn and educ…

Personality, occupational sorting and routine work

Purpose – A prominent labour market feature in recent decades has been the increase in abstract and service jobs, while the demand for routine work has declined. This article examines whether the components of Type A behaviour predict workers’ selection into nonroutine abstract, non-routine service and routine jobs. Design/methodology/approach – Building on the work by Barrick et al. (2013), this article first presents how the theory of purposeful work behaviour can be used to explain how individuals with different levels of Type A components sort into abstract, service and routine jobs. Then, using longitudinal data, it examines whether the components of Type A behaviour predict occupation…

Labor market performance of dropouts: the role of personality

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence on labor market careers of dropouts with various levels of education. Design/methodology/approach – The paper compares the labor market careers of dropouts and non-dropouts between ages 15 and 50 by using longitudinal data. The paper analyses how the results change when the authors control for differences in personality characteristics. Findings – The paper finds that dropping out diminishes one's success in the labor market but this connection is reduced when the model is augmented with personality. Dropouts seem to have or lack certain personality characteristics that are associated with labor market success. These findings sugge…

Birth weight and adult income : An examination of mediation through adult height and body mass

This paper examines the causal links between early human endowments and socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood. We use a genotyped longitudinal survey (Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study) that is linked to the administrative registers of Statistics Finland. We focus on the effect of birth weight on income via two anthropometric mediators: body mass index (BMI) and height in adulthood. We find that (i) the genetic instruments for birth weight, adult height, and adult BMI are statistically powerful; (ii) there is a robust total effect of birth weight on income for men but not for women; (iii) the total effect of birth weight on income for men is partly mediated via height but not via BMI; …

Equal access to the top? Measuring selection into finnish academia

In this article, we draw a parallel between equality of opportunity in educational transitions and equality of opportunity in academic careers. In both cases, many methodological problems can be ameliorated by the use of longitudinal rather than cross-sectional data. We illustrate this point by using Finnish full-population register data to follow the educational and academic careers of the 1964–1966 birth cohorts from birth to the present day. We show how the Finnish professoriate is highly selected both in terms of parental background and in terms of gender. Individuals of different backgrounds differ greatly in the likelihood of completing different educational and academic transitions, …

Persoonallisuuden merkitys työmarkkinoilla

Personality, occupational sorting and routine work

PurposeA prominent labour market feature in recent decades has been the increase in abstract and service jobs, while the demand for routine work has declined. This article examines whether the components of Type A behaviour predict workers' selection into non-routine abstract, non-routine service and routine jobs.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on the work by Barrick et al. (2013), this article first presents how the theory of purposeful work behaviour can be used to explain how individuals with different levels of Type A components sort into abstract, service and routine jobs. Then, using longitudinal data, it examines whether the components of Type A behaviour predict occupational sor…

Terveyskäyttäytyminen ja työmarkkinamenestys : mitä geenit kertovat

Terveys vaikuttaa monella tavalla yksilön hyvinvointiin. Geneettiset aineistot mahdollistavat tutkimusasetelmat, joiden avulla voidaan tarkastella terveyden ja terveyskäyttäytymisen vaikutuksia työmarkkina-asemaan kuten ansiotasoon. Lisäksi geneettisiä tietoja hyödyntäen on tutkittu, voidaanko esimerkiksi koulutuksella vaikuttaa terveyskäyttäytymiseen. Tutkimuksissa on vahvistettu ylipainon vaikuttavan negatiivisesti menestykseen työmarkkinoilla. Tämän lisäksi tutkimuksissa on kyetty arvioimaan koulutuksen suojaavaa vaikutusta terveyteen. Geenitietojen käyttö taloustieteellisessä tutkimuksessa on vasta alkumetreillä. nonPeerReviewed

Gene-environment interactions between education and body mass: Evidence from the UK and Finland

More education is associated with a lower body mass index (BMI) and likelihood of being overweight. However, since a large proportion of the variation in body mass is due to genetic makeup, it has been hypothesized that education may moderate the genetic risk. We estimate main associations between (i) education, (ii) genetic risk, and (iii) interactions between education and genetic risk on BMI and the probability of being overweight in the UK and Finland. The estimates show that education is negatively associated with BMI and overweightness, and genetic risk is positively associated. However, the interactions between education and genetic risk are small and statistically insignificant. pee…

Does education protect against depression? Evidence from the Young Finns Study using Mendelian randomization

Using participants (N = 1733) drawn from the nationally representative longitudinal Young Finns Study (YFS) we estimate the effect of education on depressive symptoms. In 2007, when the participants were between 30 and 45 years old, they reported their depressive symptoms using a revised version of Beck's Depression Inventory. Education was measured using register information on the highest completed level of education in 2007, which was converted to years of education. To identify a causal relationship between education and depressive symptoms we use an instrumental variables approach (Mendelian randomization, MR) with a genetic risk score as an instrument for years of education. The genet…

Self-confidence predicts entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial success

Depressive symptoms and long-term income: The Young Finns Study

Abstract Background Higher depressive symptoms have been associated with lower future income. However, studies examining this issue have had limited follow-up times and have used self-reported measures of income. Also, possible confounders or mediators have not been accounted. Methods 971 women and 738 men were selected from the ongoing prospective Young Finns Study (YFS) that began in 1980. Depressive symptoms were measured in 1992 when participants were from 15 to 30 years old. Information on annual income and earnings from 1993 to 2010 were obtained from the Finnish Longitudinal Employer-Employee Data (FLEED) of Statistics Finland and linked to the YFS. Results Higher depressive symptoms…

Creatine and entrepreneurship

Creatine is a nitrogenous organic acid which supplies energy to body cells and enhances physical performance. Using the Young Finns Study combined with the Finnish Linked employer-employee data we show that quantities of creatine measured in 1980 prior to labour market entry affect entrepreneurial success as measured by capital income accumulation over the period 1993–2010 (in particular for females). However, we do not find evidence that creatine affects the propensity to become an entrepreneur. Our study contributes to the emerging literature on biomarkers and entrepreneurship. peerReviewed

The challenges of GxE research: A rejoinder

Personality and Labour Market Income: Evidence from Longitudinal Data

This study contributes to the literature on how personality is rewarded in the labour market by examining the relationship between personality and labour market income. Our results suggest that adulthood extraversion is positively associated with income when education, work experience, and unemployment history, measured prospectively from longitudinal data, are controlled for. In addition, childhood constructiveness indicating active and well-controlled behaviour has a positive association with income in adulthood.

Birth weight, adult weight, and cardiovascular biomarkers : Evidence from the Cardiovascular Young Finns Study

This study quantifies the causal effect of birth weight on cardiovascular biomarkers in adulthood using the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (YFS). We apply a multivariable Mendelian randomization (MVMR) method that provides a novel approach to improve inference in causal analysis based on a mediation framework. The results show that birth weight is linked to triglyceride levels (β = −0.294; 95% CI [−0.591, 0.003]) but not to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels (β = 0.007; 95% CI [−0.168, 0.183]). The total effect of birth weight on triglyceride levels is partly offset by a mediation pathway linking birth weight to adult BMI (β = 0.111; 95% CI [−0.013, 0.234]). The nega…

Personality traits and unemployment: Evidence from longitudinal data

This study contributes to the literature on how personality is related to labour market success by providing evidence on the relationship between personality traits and unemployment. After accounting for reverse causality and measurement error, our results suggest that higher openness was associated with increased cumulative unemployment at the prime working age. It seems that this connection occurs because individuals with higher openness enter into unemployment spells more frequently – not because their unemployment spells would be particularly long. peerReviewed

The challenges of GxE research : A rejoinder