Shanghai Colloquium in Neuroeconomics: David Cesarini

Abstract:

Educational attainment has important consequences for economic, social, and health outcomes. We report a large genome-wide association study of educational attainment in ~300,000 individuals. We identify 74 independent genome-wide-significant SNPs and show that they replicate better than expected statistically in an independent sample (N = 111,349). Education-increasing alleles are associated with increased cognitive performance and intracranial volume, increased risk of bipolar disorder, decreased risk of Alzheimer’s, and lower neuroticism. The genes in our analyses are preferentially expressed in neural tissue, especially during the prenatal period, and enriched for biological pathways involved in many stages of neural development, including progenitor proliferation, neuronal migration, and the growth of axons and dendrites.

Biography:

Most of my current work is devoted to understanding the value (and limitations) of genetic marker data in economic analysis. With Dan Benjamin and Philipp Koellinger, I co-direct the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium (www.ssgac.org), a research group designed to stimulate dialogue and cooperation between medical geneticists and social scientists. The SSGAC facilitates collaborative research that seeks to identify associations between specific genetic markers and behavioral traits, such as preferences, personality and social-science outcomes. SSGAC papers have been published in venues such as Science, PNAS and Psychological Science. Currently, the SSGAC has two major gene discovery efforts underway, one on educational attainment (and its precursors) and one on life satisfaction.

About Shanghai Colloquium in Neuroeconomics

This colloquium is one of the monthly Shanghai Colloquium Series. It aims to promote interdisciplinary discussion among many scholars in Shanghai who study Decision Making. The cooperative brings together scholars from all of the Shanghai Universities and Institutes on a regular basis, and holds monthly colloquium in Neuroeconomics at NYU Shanghai's campus in Pudong. The monthly colloquium also brings internationally recognized speakers from Asia, Europe and the Americas to Shanghai. Each colloquium is followed by a Q&A session as well as an informal reception.