Arbeitspapier

The relationship between economic preferences and psychological personality measures

Although both economists and psychologists seek to identify determinants of heterogeneity in behavior, they use different concepts to capture them. In this review we first analyze the extent to which economic preferences and psychological concepts of personality - such as the Big Five and locus of control - are related. We analyze data from incentivized laboratory experiments and representative samples and find only low degrees of association between economic preferences and personality. We then regress life outcomes - such as labor market success, health status and life satisfaction - simultaneously on preference and personality measures. The analysis reveals that the two concepts are rather complementary when it comes to explaining heterogeneity in important life outcomes and behavior.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 3785

Classification
Wirtschaft
Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual
Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty: General
Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: General‡
Health, Education, and Welfare: General
Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: General
Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
Subject
risk preference
time preference
social preferences
locus of control
Big Five

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Becker, Anke
Deckers, Thomas
Dohmen,Thomas
Falk, Armin
Kosse, Fabian
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
(where)
Munich
(when)
2012

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Becker, Anke
  • Deckers, Thomas
  • Dohmen,Thomas
  • Falk, Armin
  • Kosse, Fabian
  • Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)

Time of origin

  • 2012

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