There is a complex interaction between nature and nurture. Assessing the interplay of genes and environmental factors seeks to determine if the environment we are exposed to has the potential to impact the connection between genes and a particular outcome. This dynamic interaction can manifest in two ways: environment may either 1) enhance the genetic association or 2) mitigate genetic risk. Education, sometimes called the “great equalizer”, may be able to influence the relationship between genetic risk for a variety of conditions and socioeconomic as well as health outcomes. To investigate the interaction of education and genetic risk factors, we study an English education reform from 1972 that raised the minimum school leaving age from 15 to 16. We compare students in cohorts just before the reform took effect with the first cohorts that were affected. They only differ in the additional years of education. We investigate differences in how students responded to this reform according to their genetic risk. It is possible that individuals with a lower genetic propensity for education or a higher genetic risk for certain diseases can benefit more from an extension of the minimum school leaving age. Our goal is to contribute to a better understanding of an important source of inequality that has wide-ranging implications for all domains of life: the “genetic lottery”. Furthermore, we contribute evidence on how education policy can influence the relationship between genes and later-life outcomes. We introduce a way to address unobserved differences between individuals (like innate ability or preferences) in the context of interactions between genes and environmental factors.
