Theory matters for identifying a causal role for genetic factors in socioeconomic outcomes.

Any empirical claim about the role of genes in socioeconomic outcomes involves successfully addressing the identification problem. This commentary argues that socioeconomic outcomes such as education are sufficiently complex, involving so many mechanisms, that understanding the role genes requires the use of formal theoretical structures.

Modesty can be constructive: linking theory and evidence in social science.

This commentary argues that Bentley et al.'s mapping of shifts in collective human behavior provides a novel vision of how social science theory can inform large data set analysis.