Cognitive Skills Beyond Childhood

Abstract This paper documents how cognitive skills develop beyond childhood. Using unique data from a British birth cohort followed since 1958, I link cognitive skills in childhood to cognitive skills at 50. I establish five facts from these data: First, childhood cognitive skills persist strongly into adulthood. Second, wages at 50 are better predicted by cognitive skills at 16 than by cognitive skills at 50. Third, higher education predicts higher cognitive skills and wages. Fourth, occupational choice predicts wages, but not cognitive skills at 50. Fifth, periods out of the labour market depreciate wages, but not cognitive skills at 50.