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Noncognitive Skills at the Time of COVID-19: An Experiment with Professional Traders and Students

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We study the stability of noncognitive skills by comparing experimental results gathered before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a sample of professional traders, we find a significant decrease in agreeableness and locus of control and a moderate decrease in grit. These patterns are primarily driven by those with more negative experiences of the pandemic. Other skills, such as trust, conscientiousness, and self-monitoring, are unchanged. We contrast these results with those from a sample of undergraduate students whose noncognitive skills remain constant (except conscientiousness). Our findings provide evidence against the stability of noncognitive skills, particularly among professional traders.

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  • Marco Angrisani & Marco Cipriani & Antonio Guarino & Ryan Kendall & Julen Ortiz de Zarate Pina, 2023. "Noncognitive Skills at the Time of COVID-19: An Experiment with Professional Traders and Students," Staff Reports 1055, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fednsr:95723
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    Keywords

    Non-cognitive skills; COVID-19; professional traders;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G40 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - General
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments

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