Inequality in Personality over the Life Cycle

Research output: Working paperResearch

We describe gender and socioeconomic inequalities in the Big Five personality traits over the life cycle, using a facet-level inventory linked to administrative data. We estimate life-cycle profiles non-parametrically and test for cohort and sampleselection effects. We discuss the economic implications of the following findings: Women of all ages score more highly than men on all personality traits, including three that are positively associated with wages; Individuals with high own or parental education have more favorable traits except Conscientiousness; Over the life cycle, gender and socioeconomic gaps widen in Openness and shrink in Neuroticism, a trait associated with worse outcomes.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages58
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Jun 2020
SeriesIZA Discussion Paper
Number13378

    Research areas

  • inequality, socio-emotional skills, personality traits, Big Five facets, life cycle dynamics, gender gap, intergenerational transmission

Links

ID: 255347438