TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Powdthavee, Nattavudh
AU  - Boyce, Christopher J.
AU  - Wood, Alex M.
        TI  - Can Money Change Who We Are? Estimating the Effects of Unearned Income on Measures of Incentive-Enhancing Personality Traits
        PY  - 2011/Nov/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 6131
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp6131
        AB  - The importance of noncognitive childhood skills in predicting higher wages is well documented in economics. This paper studies the reverse. Using surveys of lottery winners, we analyze the effects of unearned income on the Big Five personality traits. After correcting for potential endogeneity problems from prize sizes, we find that unearned income improves traits that predict pro-social and cooperative behaviors, preferences for social contact, empathy, and gregariousness, and reduces individuals' tendency toward negative emotional states: known in economics literature as incentive-enhancing personality traits. Our results support the possibility of scope for later interventions to improve the personality traits of adults.
        KW  - noncognitive skills
KW  - personality traits
KW  - lottery winners
KW  - instrumental variables
KW  - unearned income
        ER  -