
Biomarkers and Long-term Labour Market  Outcomes: The Case of Creatine [pdf] - phreeza
http://ftp.iza.org/dp8029.pdf
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gwern
Plausible (creatine is good for athletics, of course, but there's also a
scattershot of small psychological studies suggesting cognitive benefits to
supplementation [http://gwern.net/Creatine](http://gwern.net/Creatine) which
would imply that one's normal levels of creatine might make a difference), but
I'm really surprised that the correlation does not seem to be mediated by
educational attainment, since that's where I would immediately expect to see
some effect to get the increased wages.

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Zigurd
It is a biomarker for meat, eggs, and fish in the diet. So, in addition to the
effects of creatine in a young persons body, it may be a biomarker for wealth,
assuming vegetarians are a small enough minority.

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stephen
The papers asserts they controlled for that (in the Conclusion):

    
    
        Nor does it appear to be proxying the effects of other biomarkers, nor parental background.
    

Also, since it wasn't due to education:

    
    
        The effect of creatine on labour market outcomes does not arise through the acquisition of formal education as measured by having at least some university education.
    

I think that also insinuates it wasn't just a proxy for wealth, as the wealthy
kids would, I assume, have had better education.

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leoh
I don't think the education<=>wealth assumption plays out as well in Finland
as in the US. There is much greater access to high quality education in
Finland, and it's cheaper, too.

~~~
Zigurd
That's a very good point. With free tuition for Finnish citizens, and very
likley no "legacy" admission policies, education is not a proxy for wealthy
parents in Finland.

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osmala
This kind of paper probably gets lots of money from EU and government sources.
It has couple of people from different EU countries and it has people from
different fields co-operating.

This is probably something that people think lets do this and see what happens
at least we get maximum government funding for being interdisciplinary and co-
operating between institutions. Results are probably not bullshit at all, but
idea to study this is probably because its easier to get funding is for
interdisciplinary co-operation.

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evolve2k
TLDR; "Those with higher levels of creatine in 1980 spend more time in the
labour market in the subsequent two decades and earn more. Creatine is not
associated with educational attainment."

"The associations between creatine and labour market outcomes are robust to
controlling for other biomarkers, educational attainment and parental
background. Creatine is a naturally occurring nitrogenous organic acid which
supplies energy to body cells, including muscles and brain. Our findings are
consistent with high energy levels, induced by creatine, leading to
productivity-enhancing traits - such as a high propensity for effort,
perseverance, or high-commitment - which results in positive labour market
outcomes."

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moioci
This study from a nephrology journal shows that urine creatinine levels are
associated with lean body mass, degree of vigorous exercise, and meat in the
diet:
[http://cjasn.asnjournals.org/content/3/2/348.full](http://cjasn.asnjournals.org/content/3/2/348.full)
Did these authors control for any of these factors?

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busterarm
My bullshit meter reads over 9000.

~~~
freshhawk
Mine went off the scale on reading the title. But what about similar findings
regarding testosterone and traders (and other activities involving risk
taking) that have been found? What if they'd found a similar correlation
between caffeine and labour output?

Made me realize my bullshit meter definitely includes a heuristic along the
lines of "any mental association with the bodybuilder supplement industry adds
a large multiplier to the bullshit level".

My bullshit meter is clearly flawed.

~~~
ajcarpy2005
Creatine supp. isn't just for bodybuilders; it's actually beneficial for the
brain.

~~~
freshhawk
Yup, it's actually among the couple supplements I do take. I was going for a
point about bullshit meters since creatine is strongly associated with the
scammy world of workout supplements in most people's minds.

