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Rostapshova, Olga

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Rostapshova

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Olga

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Rostapshova, Olga
Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.13a7b216-a4b8-4e0b-80a1-b20614004a99

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    Replicability and Robustness of Genome-Wide-Association Studies for Behavioral Traits
    (Association for Psychological Science, 2014) Rietveld, Cornelius A.; Conley, Dalton; Eriksson, Nicholas; Esko, Tõnu; Medland, Sarah E.; Vinkhuyzen, Anna A. E.; Yang, Jian; Boardman, Jason D.; Chabris, Christopher F.; Dawes, Christopher T.; Domingue, Benjamin W.; Hinds, David A.; Johannesson, Magnus; Kiefer, Amy K.; Laibson, David; Magnusson, Patrik K. E.; Mountain, Joanna L.; Oskarsson, Sven; Rostapshova, Olga; Teumer, Alexander; Tung, Joyce Y.; Visscher, Peter M.; Benjamin, Daniel J.; Cesarini, David; Koellinger, Philipp D.
    A recent genome-wide-association study of educational attainment identified three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) whose associations, despite their small effect sizes (each \(R^2 \approx 0.02\%)\), reached genome-wide significance \((p < 5 × 10^{−8})\) in a large discovery sample and were replicated in an independent sample (p < .05). The study also reported associations between educational attainment and indices of SNPs called “polygenic scores.” In three studies, we evaluated the robustness of these findings. Study 1 showed that the associations with all three SNPs were replicated in another large (N = 34,428) independent sample. We also found that the scores remained predictive \((R^2 \approx 2\%)\) in regressions with stringent controls for stratification (Study 2) and in new within-family analyses (Study 3). Our results show that large and therefore well-powered genome-wide-association studies can identify replicable genetic associations with behavioral traits. The small effect sizes of individual SNPs are likely to be a major contributing factor explaining the striking contrast between our results and the disappointing replication record of most candidate-gene studies.
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    Pushing a Troika of Development: Promoting Investment, Curbing Corruption, and Enhancing Public Good Provision
    (2013-03-15) Rostapshova, Olga; Zeckhauser, Richard Jay; Roth, Al; Kremer, Michael
    In recent decades, a new direction of development economics has emerged, led by economists on a mission to improve the quality of life for citizens of developing countries through proven, cost-effective interventions. This micro-economic focus on development hinges on identifying barriers to growth and implementing targeted programs designed to alleviate these constraints. However, identifying constraints is far easier than measuring their magnitude, and designing effective measures to quantify these barriers remains a substantial challenge. Numerous microeconomic indicators of development are famously intractable and resist simple methods of accurate measurement. This dissertation tackles measurement challenges by quantifying three major development drivers: efficient investment, effective institutions, and public good provision. Using three case studies on business development and cooperation conducted in Russia and Kenya, I develop novel ways to quantify constraints and suggest methods to alleviate them. In the first chapter, I estimate marginal rates of return to capital for small retail firms, evaluate the causes of inefficiency and examine interventions that may aid growth. Next, I examine corruption as a barrier to small business growth and assess whether policy reform is capable of decreasing corrupt activity. Finally, I investigate the causes of heterogeneity in the financing of local public goods and experimentally document the conditions that improve communities’ ability to cooperate and coordinate on efficient Nash equilibria. In sum, I propose new ways of measuring marginal rates of return to capital, corruption incidence, and cooperation in public good provision; then leverage these measures to shed light on barriers to growth and to assess the effectiveness of possible interventions to enable development and achieve more efficient resource distribution.
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    Responding to Threats of Climate Change Mega-Catastrophes
    (John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2010) Kousky, Carolyn; Rostapshova, Olga; Toman, Michael; Zeckhauser, Richard
    There is a low but uncertain probability that climate change could trigger “mega-catastrophes,” severe and at least partly irreversible adverse effects across broad regions. This paper first discusses the state of current knowledge and the defining characteristics of potential climate change mega-catastrophes. While some of these characteristics present difficulties for using standard rational choice methods to evaluate response options, there is still a need to balance the benefits and costs of different possible responses with appropriate attention to the uncertainties. To that end, we present a qualitative analysis of three options for mitigating the risk of climate mega-catastrophes—drastic abatement of greenhouse gas emissions, development and implementation of geoengineering, and large-scale ex ante adaptation— against the criteria of efficacy, cost, robustness, and flexibility. We discuss the composition of a sound portfolio of initial investments in reducing the risk of climate change mega-catastrophes.