”Midas touch” gene makes people brilliant businessmen

California Institute of Technology researchers believe they have found a ”Midas touch” gene,which makes some people brilliant at business deals.

Inherited from parents,the gene variation called MAOA-L allows a person to make better decisions when it comes to risky financial deals. Such people are happy to take gambles – but only if the odds are in their favour.

MAOA-L is linked with the brain chemicals serotonin,which affects mood and dopamine,which is involved in decisions.

In a study of 90 young men asked to opt between 140 pairs of monetary gambles carriers of MAOA-L were more likely to live dangerously – if there was a clear advantage.

“Our computational choice model,rooted in established decision theory,showed that MAOA-L carriers exhibited such behaviour because they are able to make better financial decisions under risk,and not because they are more impulsive,” the Daily Mail quoted Cary Frydman as saying.

The study is published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.