Monthly Archives: March 2014

Heteropaternal Superfecundation

Posted on March 31, 2014 by gcochran9

Sperm competition is a factor in some cases of paternal uncertainty, but there are also many cases in which it is not. For example, Daniel Boone’s wife had a daughter, Jemima, when he had been gone for more than a … Continue reading →

Posted in Genetics | 126 Comments

Simple Mobility Models II

Posted on March 29, 2014 by harpend

This is a sequel to the previous post exploring quantitative genetic models of income inequality motivated by the findings in Gregory Clark’s new book [1]. A simple quantitative genetic model must rely on the assumption of an underlying normal distribution … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 37 Comments

Simple Mobility Models

Posted on March 24, 2014 by harpend

Greg’s previous post reviewing Gregory Clark’s new book has generated some interesting discussion. Reviewers elsewhere and some of our customers have been surprised at the persistence of social class by surname and speculated that this implies genetic transmission of class. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 35 Comments

The Son Also Rises

Posted on March 23, 2014 by gcochran9

Greg Clark has a new book out, The Son Also Rises. His thesis, in short, is that moxie has high heritability. Most studies show fairly high social mobility from one generation to the next – but Clark finds (using surname … Continue reading →

Posted in Ashkenazi Jews, assortative mating, Book Reviews, Education, Genetics | 80 Comments

Burning Seed Corn

Posted on March 23, 2014 by gcochran9

According to Sylvia Ann Hewlett, writing in the Harvard Business Review, 33% of successful career women (business executives, doctors, lawyers, academics,  etc) in the 41-55 age bracket are childless. In corporate America, 42%.  I figure that the TFR of this … Continue reading →

Posted in dysgenics | 96 Comments

Assortive mating and income inequality

Posted on March 21, 2014 by gcochran9

More than in the past, we have doctors marrying other doctors,  rather than nurses, basically because of an increase in assortative mating for education. Ceteris paribus, this would tend to cause greater income equality among families. Is it the main … Continue reading →

Posted in assortative mating | Tagged | 53 Comments

Sperm competition

Posted on March 17, 2014 by gcochran9

Mostly, people are talking about competition between sperm produced by different  males. In humans, this means women that are into speed dating. The non-paternity rate is an upper limit to the rate of sperm competition:  in many, probably most cases … Continue reading →

Posted in Genetics | 148 Comments

Stolen generations

Posted on March 15, 2014 by gcochran9

Someone was quoted as saying that if you adopted an Australian Aborigine kid and raised him in England, he’d do just fine.  This is a standard prediction, or maybe really an assumption, of most social scientists: people are the same … Continue reading →

Posted in Australian Aboriginals | 96 Comments

Genetic Architectures

Posted on March 15, 2014 by gcochran9

Dairy cattle eventually graduate to McDonalds, so there is some interest in the genetics of beef production in dairy breeds.  There is course more interest in the genetics of beef production in beef breeds of cattle. Usually you don’t find … Continue reading →

Posted in Genetics | 15 Comments

It made their brown eyes blue..

Posted on March 14, 2014 by gcochran9

A recent report in PNAS shows the inhabitants of the Ukraine and its environs had much darker hair, skin, and eyes back in the Bronze Age and earlier. Assuming population continuity, the selective advantage of the alleles they examined must have … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 40 Comments