The College Type: Personality and Educational Inequality

Shelly Lundberg

No 7305, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: I examine the effects of cognitive ability and personality traits on college graduation in a recent cohort of young Americans, and how the returns to these traits vary by family background, and find very substantial differences across family background groups in the personality traits that predict successful completion of college, particularly for men. The implications are two-fold. First, the returns to noncognitive traits may be highly context-dependent. Second, policy discussion concerning educational inequality should include, not just the possibilities for remediating the skill levels of poor children, but also approaches to changing the environments that limit their opportunities.

Keywords: inequality; personality; education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2013-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-ltv and nep-neu
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (63)

Published - published in: Journal of Labor Economics, 2013, 31 (3), 421-441

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Journal Article: The College Type: Personality and Educational Inequality (2013)
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