PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Grönqvist, Erik AU - Öckert, Björn AU - Vlachos, Jonas TI - The Intergenerational Transmission of Cognitive and Noncognitive Abilities AID - 10.3368/jhr.52.4.0115-6882R1 DP - 2017 Oct 02 TA - Journal of Human Resources PG - 887--918 VI - 52 IP - 4 4099 - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/52/4/887.short 4100 - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/52/4/887.full SO - J Hum Resour2017 Oct 02; 52 AB - We study the intergenerational transmission of cognitive and noncognitive abilities using population data and correct for measurement error in abilities using two sets of instruments. The results show that previous estimates are biased downward and that once measurement error is corrected for, the correlation in noncognitive ability is close to that of cognitive ability. By considering both parents, intergenerational ability correlations account for a substantial portion of the sibling correlation. Using adoptees, we find that the social impact of maternal abilities is more important than paternal abilities. Children’s educational attainment and labor market outcomes are strongly related to parents’ cognitive and noncognitive abilities.