The Effects of Personality Traits on Wages: A Quantile Regression Approach

Robert Girtz ()
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Robert Girtz: Black Hills State University

Economics Bulletin, 2015, vol. 35, issue 4, 2174-2183

Abstract: Past research suggests that both adolescent self-esteem and locus of control have a positive effect on adult wages. Drawing data from the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, I refine the empirical relationship between locus of control, self-esteem and wages. Articles discussing these relationships thus far have been mainly limited to OLS and other mean effect models. I extend the analysis of the effects of self-esteem and locus of control on wages by examining the effects of these traits across the wage distribution using a quantile regression framework. I find that the effect of self-esteem varies across the wage distribution. The effect of self-esteem on wages for those in the 60th wage decile and above is approximately 1.5 to 2 times stronger than those in the 30th wage decile and below. These results indicate that self-esteem has a higher effect on wages, at the margin, for those in higher paid occupations. I also find that the effect of locus of control on wages does not vary across the wage distribution and is statistically insignificant at most wage deciles.

Keywords: self-esteem; locus of control; personality; human capital; quantile regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J0 J3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-10-16
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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