Nature vs. nurture

One of my late mother's all-time favorite topics. The debate continues:

"Personality decided at birth, say scientists".

"Sixty Years after the Magic Carpet Ride: The Long-Run Effect of the Early Childhood Environment on Social and Economic Outcomes".

We construct three summary measures of the childhood environment: 1) whether the home had running water, sanitation and electricity; 2) whether the locality of residence was in an urban environment (which typically has a more advanced economic infrastructure than remote towns and villages); and 3) whether the locality of residence was a Yemenite enclave. After linking information about the individual's early childhood environment with their later outcomes, we find that children of families that were placed in a good environment (i.e good sanitary conditions, in an urban locality, and not in an ethnic enclave) experienced better economic and social outcomes throughout their lives. Specifically, we find that individuals who grew up in better conditions accumulated more human capital, got married at an older age, had fewer children, were more likely to be employed at the age of 55, were more likely to work in white-collar jobs, were less likely to be religious, and were more likely to have worldly tastes in music and food.

(Second link via Marginal Revolution.)