The Effects of Personality Traits on Wages: A Matching Approach

Abstract

I use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 to estimate the effects of adolescent measurements of self-esteem and locus of control on adult wages using propensity score matching. An adolescent possessing high self-esteem will experience between 8.5 and 9.2 per cent higher wages as an adult. This result is statistically significant and robust to the addition of cognitive skill and family background characteristics. When cognitive skill and family background characteristics are controlled for, locus of control as an adolescent is insignificant in explaining adult wages. This result is contrary to findings in the literature. © 2012 CEIS, Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.