Studies of adolescents and young adults have shown that schooling impacts economic outcomes beyond its impact on cognitive ability. Research has also shown that the personality trait of conscientiousness predicts health outcomes, academic outcomes, and divorce. Using the Big Five taxonomy of...

In a previous study, we found the family of personality traits known as conscientiousness to be associated in cross-sectional analyses with both lifetime earnings and wealth. In this study, we used data from an Internet survey of HRS respondents in the second quarter of 2009 to test whether...

We analyze newly available data from the Health and Retirement Study on senior citizens’ take-up of Medicare Part D and the associated SSA Low-Income Subsidy. We find that economic factors ­ specifically, demand for prescription drugs ­ drove the decision to enroll in Part D. For the most...

This paper explores the power of personality traits both as predictors and as causes of academic and economic success, health, and criminal activity. Measured personality is interpreted as a construct derived from an economic model of preferences, constraints, and information. Evidence is...

This paper explores the power of personality traits both as predictors and as causes of academic and economic success, health, and criminal activity. Measured personality is interpreted as a construct derived from an economic model of preferences, constraints, and information. Evidence is...

This paper assesses the effects of personality traits on economic preparation for retirement, wealth accumulation, and consumption, among persons 66 to 69 years of age. Among the five chief personality traits of neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness, we focus...

Character skills, including conscientiousness, grit or self-control are important determinants of relevant life outcomes. However, researchers struggle to find valid measures of these skills and many existing datasets lack any measures of them at all. This limits research on how these important...

This paper explores the interface between personality psychology and economics. We examine the predictive power of personality and the stability of personality traits over the life cycle. We develop simple analytical frameworks for interpreting the evidence in personality psychology and suggest...

This paper studies whether a particular socio-emotional skill -grit (the ability to sustain effort and interest toward long-term goals)-can be cultivated and how this affects student learning. The paper implements, as a randomized controlled trial, a nationwide low-cost intervention designed to...

This paper studies whether a particular socio-emotional skill - grit (the ability to sustain effort and interest toward long-term goals) - can be cultivated and how this affects student learning. The paper implements, as a randomized controlled trial, a nationwide low-cost intervention designed...