This paper presents new evidence from the NLSY on the importance of meritocracy in American society. In it, we find that general intelligence, or g -- a measure of cognitive ability--is dominant in explaining test score variance. The weights assigned to tests by g are similar for all major demographic groups. These results support Spearman's theory of g. We also find that g and other measures of ability are not rewarded equally across race and gender, evidence against the view that the labor market is organized on meritocratic principles. Additional factors beyond g are required to explain wages and occupational choice. However, both blue collar and white collar wages are poorly predicted by g or even multiple measures of ability. Observed cognitive ability is only a minor predictor of social performance. White collar wages are more g loaded than blue collar wages. Many noncognitive factors determine blue collar wages.
CITATION STYLE
Cawley, J., Conneely, K., Heckman, J., & Vytlacil, E. (1997). Cognitive Ability, Wages, and Meritocracy. In Intelligence, Genes, and Success (pp. 179–192). Springer New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-0669-9_8
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.