Using roughly 600 ancient genomes from England, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands dated 700–1850 CE, the authors compute polygenic scores for educational attainment and report an approximate 0.78 standard‑deviation increase over that interval. They argue this genetic shift supports Gregory Clark’s thesis that differential reproductive success tied to traits correlated with education and economic success produced measurable evolutionary change before the Industrial Revolution.
— If true, this reframes debates about the roots of economic development and social inequality by adding a long‑run biological feedback mechanism to explanations that have been framed solely in cultural, legal, or institutional terms.
Aporia
2026.01.15
92% relevant
The article reprises Gregory Clark’s demographic‑selection thesis and cites recent ancient‑DNA/polygenic‑score work (Piffer & Kirkegaard-style comparisons of hundreds of genomes) to argue that middle‑class expansion produced measurable genetic shifts in traits correlated with cognition and thrift — exactly the empirical claim captured by the existing idea about selection for educational/intelligence‑linked alleles in preindustrial England.
Davide Piffer
2026.01.04
72% relevant
Both pieces present empirical cases where recent selection (within a few thousand years) plausibly altered population genetic composition; the bear paper is a proximate animal analogue for arguments that human populations can experience measurable evolutionary shifts over historical timescales under strong selection and demographic structure.
Davide Piffer
2025.12.01
65% relevant
That work used ancient genomes and PGS to argue for long‑term selection on education‑linked variants; Piffer’s argument—validating PGS on a known phenotype—strengthens the methodological foundation for similar claims about selection on cognitive or educational‑attainment proxies.
Davide Piffer
2025.11.29
100% relevant
The article is a narrated slide deck by co‑author Prof. Gregory Connor describing the dataset (~600 genomes), the EA polygenic‑score computation, and the control analyses for imputation/coverage/study effects that underpin the 0.78 SD claim.
2023.08.04
55% relevant
Clark interprets long‑run persistence as evidence of transmitted 'social competence' (a hereditary‑like factor) that echoes the idea that selection across generations affected educationally relevant traits; the book is often cited in debates about genetic vs environmental drivers of social outcomes.