@techreport{NBERw5645,
 title = "Cognitive Ability, Wages, and Meritocracy",
 author = "John Cawley and Karen Conneely and James Heckman and Edward Vytlacil",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "5645",
 year = "1996",
 month = "July",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w5645",
 abstract = {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.},
}