Inequality in Personality over the Life Cycle
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Inequality in Personality over the Life Cycle. / Gensowski, Miriam; Gørtz, Mette; Schurer, Stefanie.
In: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Vol. 184, 2021, p. 46-77.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Inequality in Personality over the Life Cycle
AU - Gensowski, Miriam
AU - Gørtz, Mette
AU - Schurer, Stefanie
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - We document gender and socioeconomic inequalities in personality over the life cycle (age 18–75), using the Big Five 2 (BFI-2) inventory linked to administrative data on a large Danish population. We estimate life-cycle profiles non-parametrically and adjust for cohort and sample-selection effects. We find that: (1) Women of all ages score more highly than men on all personality traits, including three that are positively associated with wages; (2) High-education groups score more favorably on Openness to Experience, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism than low-education groups, while there is no socioeconomic inequality by Conscientiousness; (3) Over the life cycle, gender and socioeconomic gaps remain constant, with two exceptions: the gender and SES gaps in Openness to Experience widen, while gender differences in Neuroticism, a trait associated with worse outcomes, diminish with age. We discuss the implications of these findings in the context of gender wage gaps, household production models, and optimal taxation.
AB - We document gender and socioeconomic inequalities in personality over the life cycle (age 18–75), using the Big Five 2 (BFI-2) inventory linked to administrative data on a large Danish population. We estimate life-cycle profiles non-parametrically and adjust for cohort and sample-selection effects. We find that: (1) Women of all ages score more highly than men on all personality traits, including three that are positively associated with wages; (2) High-education groups score more favorably on Openness to Experience, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism than low-education groups, while there is no socioeconomic inequality by Conscientiousness; (3) Over the life cycle, gender and socioeconomic gaps remain constant, with two exceptions: the gender and SES gaps in Openness to Experience widen, while gender differences in Neuroticism, a trait associated with worse outcomes, diminish with age. We discuss the implications of these findings in the context of gender wage gaps, household production models, and optimal taxation.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - Personality traits
KW - Life cycle
U2 - 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.01.018
DO - 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.01.018
M3 - Journal article
VL - 184
SP - 46
EP - 77
JO - Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
JF - Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
SN - 0167-2681
ER -
ID: 255358331