TY  - JOUR
AU  - Cawley,John
AU  - Conneely,Karen
AU  - Heckman,James
AU  - Vytlacil,Edward
TI  - Cognitive Ability, Wages, and Meritocracy
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 5645
PY  - 1996
Y2  - July 1996
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5645
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5645.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
John Cawley
3M24 MVR Hall
Department of Policy Analysis and Management
and Department of Economics
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY  14853
Tel: 607/255-0952
Fax: 607/255-4071
E-Mail: jhc38@cornell.edu

James J. Heckman
Department of Economics
The University of Chicago
1126 E. 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773/702-0634
Fax: 773/702-8490
E-Mail: jjh@uchicago.edu

Edward J. Vytlacil
Department of Economics
Yale University
Box 208281
New Haven, CT 06520-8281
Tel: 203/432-3244
Fax: 203/432-6167
E-Mail: edward.vytlacil@yale.edu
AB  - 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.
ER  -