I haven’t read the book so I am not familiar with his specific argument.

However he’s an economist, not a geneticist. And the description of the book on Amazon focuses on last names and ancestry, not genetics.

https://www.amazon.com/Son-Also-Rises-Surnames-Princeton/dp/...

This book looks to me like it’s arguing that social policies don’t do much to affect familial networks, not that it’s arguing that the elites all have magical genes that keep them on top.

In large part hereditary, like most things.

https://www.amazon.com/Son-Also-Rises-Surnames-Princeton/dp/...