Childhood circumstances, personality traits and adult-life economic outcomes in developing countries: Evidence from STEP

Michał Brzeziński

No 05/2017, IBS Working Papers from Instytut Badan Strukturalnych

Abstract: This paper studies the associations between childhood circumstances (e.g. parental background, early-life socio-economic status, negative economic shocks during childhood, etc.), personality traits (the Big Five, grit) and adult-life economic outcomes (educational attainment, employment opportunity, wages, life satisfaction, and obesity) in nine developing countries. The data come from the World Bank’s STEP Skills Measurement Survey conducted over 2012-2013. Our results show that childhood circumstances are associated more strongly than personality traits with education and wages. Agreeableness, and neuroticism are relatively strong correlates of life satisfaction in developing countries, as compared with early-life socio-economic status. Grit is not significantly related to adult-life outcomes, when other personality traits are controlled for. Obesity is positively associated with extraversion and neuroticism, while childhood circumstances do not predict it.

Keywords: childhood circumstances; personality; grit; education; employment; life satisfaction; obesity; developing countries; STEP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 I20 I31 J24 J31 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2017-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-hap
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