ABSTRACT
Cognitive ability has well-established links to education, job performance, health, and fertility. Using Norwegian administrative data with population coverage, we assess how outcomes across these life domains vary with age. We examine how age profiles changed across the 1950–1969 birth cohorts—all of whom can be observed through age 50. Higher cognitive ability is associated with longer education, delayed entry into the labor market, and a steeper age-earnings profile. In the family domain, higher ability is associated with a greater likelihood of partnering and delayed but ultimately higher fertility. In the health domain, higher ability is associated with reduced risk of death and disability pension. While these patterns persist and remain substantial across all cohorts studied, different patterns of gradual change emerge across domains: convergence across ability groups for educational attainment and disability and divergence for childbearing.
