Inequality in Personality over the Life Cycle

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Standard

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

Harvard

Gensowski, M, Gørtz, M & Schurer, S 2021, 'Inequality in Personality over the Life Cycle', Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, vol. 184, pp. 46-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2021.01.018

APA

Gensowski, M., Gørtz, M., & Schurer, S. (2021). Inequality in Personality over the Life Cycle. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 184, 46-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2021.01.018

Vancouver

Gensowski M, Gørtz M, Schurer S. Inequality in Personality over the Life Cycle. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 2021;184:46-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2021.01.018

Author

Gensowski, Miriam ; Gørtz, Mette ; Schurer, Stefanie. / Inequality in Personality over the Life Cycle. In: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 2021 ; Vol. 184. pp. 46-77.

Bibtex

@article{60c32ca7f21045d183d0225f50e7c489,
title = "Inequality in Personality over the Life Cycle",
abstract = "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.",
keywords = "Faculty of Social Sciences, Personality traits, Life cycle",
author = "Miriam Gensowski and Mette G{\o}rtz and Stefanie Schurer",
year = "2021",
doi = "10.1016/j.jebo.2021.01.018",
language = "English",
volume = "184",
pages = "46--77",
journal = "Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization",
issn = "0167-2681",
publisher = "Elsevier",

}

RIS

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