[3] Additionally, genoeconomic research in 2013 found that two-fifths of the "variance of educational attainment is explained by genetic factors".
[5] The American economist Enrico Spolaore says that genoeconomic work could "reduce barriers to the flows of ideas and innovations across populations".
[5] Genoeconomic research is prone to the public misconception that genetically-influenced behaviours are separate from environmental factors.
[8] The field is criticized by biologists for lacking methodological rigour,[5] drawing conclusions about causation based on causal correlation,[3] and working with small sample sizes.
[5] The political implications of the field are also a concern for some scientists; anticipating the publication of a genoeconomics article in the journal American Economic Review, a group of scientists and social scientists wrote an open letter which said that "the suggestion that an ideal level of genetic variation could foster economic growth and could even be engineered has the potential to be misused with frightening consequences to justify indefensible practices such as ethnic cleansing or genocide".