A dynamic model of personality, schooling, and occupational choice
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Journal Title
Quantitative Economics
ISSN
1759-7323
Publisher
Econometric Society
Volume
11
Issue
1
Pages
231-275
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Todd, P. E., & Zhang, W. (2020). A dynamic model of personality, schooling, and occupational choice. Quantitative Economics, 11 (1), 231-275. https://doi.org/10.3982/qe890
Abstract
This paper develops a dynamic model of schooling and occupational choices that incorporates personality traits, as measured by the “big five” traits. The model is estimated using the HILDA dataset from Australia. Personality traits are found to play an important role in explaining education and occupation choices over the lifecycle. Results show that individuals with a comparative advantage in schooling and white-collar work have, on average, higher cognitive skills and higher personality trait scores. Allowing personality traits to evolve with age and with schooling proves to be important to capturing the heterogeneity in how people respond to educational policies. The estimated model is used to evaluate two education policies: compulsory senior secondary school and a 50% college tuition subsidy. Both policies increase educational attainment and also affect personality traits.
Embargo Lift Date
2022-06-03
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.3982/qe890
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/293331
Rights
All rights reserved