Non-cognitive skills and intergenerational inequality: Reviewing the power of personality

Lea Katharina Kröger, Alberto Palacios-Abad and Jonas Radl

Chapter 30 in Research Handbook on Intergenerational Inequality, 2024, pp 400-414 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter provides a summary of the current state of knowledge regarding non-cognitive skills and their relation to intergenerational inequality. We briefly review the ongoing debates on the measurement of personality characteristics as well as their stability across the life course. We distill a large and multidisciplinary body of research that has examined personality traits as non-cognitive skills, i.e. as factors contributing to educational attainment, socioeconomic achievement, and other socio-demographic outcomes. Furthermore, the chapter reviews evidence on the intergenerational transmission of personality traits from one generation to the next and spells out implications for understanding intergenerational inequality. In addition, we dissect and synthesize the existing research on the role of mediation and moderation, that is, the specific mechanisms through which personality traits affect the intergenerational reproduction of social inequality. Finally, the chapter considers the scope of personality interventions and their potential to reduce socioeconomic disparities.

Keywords: Economics and Finance; Sociology and Social Policy; Sustainable Development Goals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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