On the interpretation of non-cognitive skills - What is being measured and why it matters

John Humphries and Fabian Kosse

Munich Reprints in Economics from University of Munich, Department of Economics

Abstract: Across academic sub-fields such as labor, education, and behavioral economics, the measurement and interpretation of non-cognitive skills varies widely. As a result, it is difficult to compare results on the importance of non-cognitive skills across literatures. Drawing from these literatures, this paper systematically relates various prototypical non-cognitive measures within one data set. Specifically, we estimate and compare several different strategies for measuring non-cognitive skills. For each strategy, we compare their relative effectiveness at predicting educational success and decompose what is being measured into underlying personality traits and economic preferences. We demonstrate that the construction of the non-cognitive factor greatly influences what is actually measured, how it relates to more standard taxonomies and what conclusions are reached about the role of non-cognitive skills in life-outcomes such as educational attainment. Furthermore, we demonstrate that, while sometimes difficult to interpret, factors extracted from self reported behaviors can have predictive power similar to well established taxonomies, such as the Big Five.

Keywords: Educational success; Non-cognitive skills; Personality; Preferences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (47)

Published in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 136(2017): pp. 174-185

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Related works:
Journal Article: On the interpretation of non-cognitive skills – What is being measured and why it matters (2017)
Working Paper: On the Interpretation of Non-cognitive Skills: What Is Being Measured and Why It Matters (2016)
Working Paper: On the Interpretation of Non-Cognitive Skills: What Is Being Measured and Why It Matters (2016)
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