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.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

ISRCTN18991160

Conti acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 819752 DEVORHBIOSHIP - ERC-2018COG). Jervis gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Institute for Research in Market Imperfections and Public Policy MIPP (ICS13 002 ANID) and the Center for Research in Inclusive Education, Chile (SCIA ANID CIE160009). Meghir thanks the Cowles foundation and the Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS) at Yale for financial support.

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Ethics Research Committee of University College London gave ethical approval for this work.

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* The genetic material used in this paper was collected as part of the evaluation of an ECD program in Colombia and partly funded by SIEF at the World Bank. We thank Sir Michael Marmot for funding by the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London. Attanasio’s ESRC Professorial fellowship ES/K-1-700/1 and the ERC Advanced Grant 249612 funded the genotyping, which was carried out at King’s College in London and in Rotterdam. We are grateful to Andres Ruiz Linares at UCL for providing us with guidance on the collection of the genetic material in Colombia and for putting us in touch with researchers at the Universidad de los Andes who trained the interviewers in the DNA collection. We thanks participants at the Barcelona GSE ‘Children’s Health, Well-Being, and Human Capital Formation’ Summer Forum, CDES Sustainable Development Conference, Integrating Genetics and Social Sciences Workshop, JHU Health Economics seminar, NBER Education Summer Institute, Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science seminar, SEA Conference (and our discussant Rong Hai), and VDEV/CEPR/BREAD webinar, for comments. Conti acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 819752 DEVORHBIOSHIP - ERC-2018COG). Jervis gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Institute for Research in Market Imperfections and Public Policy MIPP (ICS13 002 ANID) and the Center for Research in Inclusive Education, Chile (SCIA ANID CIE160009). Meghir thanks the Cowles foundation and the Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS) at Yale for financial support.

13 To ensure proper sample preservation, the staff were trained to seal each tube securely with Parafilm, place them inside pressure-resistant boxes to prevent damage, store them at room temperature in a closed container, track collection progress, and report to the field supervisor. Once collected, the samples were shipped to the Human Population Lab at University College London’s Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment, where DNA was stored.

All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the PI (Orazio Attanasio) upon publication.