Chetty is one of the world’s most influential economists. He’s the winner of a MacArthur genius grant. And his research suggests that excellence depends less on our natural talents than we might expect. The Tennessee experiment contained a startling result. Chetty was able to predict the success that students achieved as adults simply by looking at who taught their kindergarten class. By age 25, students who happened to have had more experienced kindergarten teachers were earning significantly more money than their peers.
