IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp10359.html

Labor Outcomes during the Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood: The Role of Personality, Cognition, and Shocks in Madagascar

Author

Listed:
  • Sahn, David E.

    (Cornell University)

  • Villa, Kira M.

    (University of New Mexico)

Abstract

There is growing evidence that noncognitive skills affect economic, behavioral, and demographic outcomes in the developed world. However, little such evidence exists from developing countries. This paper estimates the joint effect of five specific personality traits and cognition on a sequence of labor market outcomes for a sample of Malagasy individuals as they transition from adolescence to young adulthood. Specifically we model these individuals' age of entry into the labor market, labor market sectoral selection, and within sector earnings. The personality traits we examine are the Big Five Personality Traits: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Additionally, we look at how these traits interact with household-level shocks in determining their labor market entry decisions. We find that personality, as well as cognitive test scores, affect these outcomes of interest, and that their impact on labor supply is, in part, a function of how individuals respond to exogenous shocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Sahn, David E. & Villa, Kira M., 2016. "Labor Outcomes during the Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood: The Role of Personality, Cognition, and Shocks in Madagascar," IZA Discussion Papers 10359, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10359
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp10359.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cunha, Flavio & Heckman, James J. & Lochner, Lance, 2006. "Interpreting the Evidence on Life Cycle Skill Formation," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 12, pages 697-812, Elsevier.
    2. David E. Sahn & David Stifel, 2003. "Exploring Alternative Measures of Welfare in the Absence of Expenditure Data," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 49(4), pages 463-489, December.
    3. Dubin, Jeffrey A & McFadden, Daniel L, 1984. "An Econometric Analysis of Residential Electric Appliance Holdings and Consumption," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 345-362, March.
    4. Peter Glick & Christopher Handy & David E. Sahn, 2015. "Schooling, marriage, and age at first birth in Madagascar," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 69(2), pages 219-236, July.
    5. Mills, Bradford F. & Sahn, David E., 1997. "Labor Market Segmentation and the Implications for Public Sector Retrenchment Programs," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 385-402, December.
    6. Hanan G. Jacoby & Emmanuel Skoufias, 1997. "Risk, Financial Markets, and Human Capital in a Developing Country," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(3), pages 311-335.
    7. Zafar Mueen Nasir, 2005. "An Analysis of Occupational Choice in Pakistan: A Multinomial Approach," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 44(1), pages 57-79.
    8. Lex Borghans & Angela Lee Duckworth & James J. Heckman & Bas ter Weel, 2008. "The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    9. Terza, Joseph V. & Basu, Anirban & Rathouz, Paul J., 2008. "Two-stage residual inclusion estimation: Addressing endogeneity in health econometric modeling," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 531-543, May.
    10. Robert Jensen, 2000. "Agricultural Volatility and Investments in Children," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 399-404, May.
    11. Pedro Carneiro & Claire Crawford & Alissa Goodman, 2007. "The Impact of Early Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills on Later Outcomes," CEE Discussion Papers 0092, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE.
    12. James J. Heckman & Jora Stixrud & Sergio Urzua, 2006. "The Effects of Cognitive and Noncognitive Abilities on Labor Market Outcomes and Social Behavior," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 411-482, July.
    13. Erik Lindqvist & Roine Vestman, 2011. "The Labor Market Returns to Cognitive and Noncognitive Ability: Evidence from the Swedish Enlistment," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 101-128, January.
    14. Glick, Peter & Sahn, David E, 1997. "Gender and Education Impacts on Employment and Earnings in West Africa: Evidence from Guinea," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(4), pages 793-823, July.
    15. James J. Heckman, 2007. "The Economics, Technology and Neuroscience of Human Capability Formation," NBER Working Papers 13195, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. de Beyer, J & Knight, J B, 1989. "The Role of Occupation in the Determination of Wages," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 41(3), pages 595-618, July.
    17. Beegle, Kathleen & Dehejia, Rajeev H. & Gatti, Roberta, 2006. "Child labor and agricultural shocks," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 80-96, October.
    18. David Gill & Victoria Prowse, 2016. "Cognitive Ability, Character Skills, and Learning to Play Equilibrium: A Level-k Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(6), pages 1619-1676.
    19. Heineck, Guido & Anger, Silke, 2010. "The returns to cognitive abilities and personality traits in Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 535-546, June.
    20. Gindling, T H, 1991. "Labor Market Segmentation and the Determination of Wages in the Public, Private-Formal, and Informal Sectors in San Jose, Costa Rica," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(3), pages 584-605, April.
    21. Brunello, Giorgio & Schlotter, Martin, 2011. "Non Cognitive Skills and Personality Traits: Labour Market Relevance and their Development in Education & Training Systems," IZA Discussion Papers 5743, IZA Network @ LISER.
    22. Ham, Roger & Junankar, Pramod N. (Raja) & Wells, Robert, 2009. "Occupational Choice: Personality Matters," IZA Discussion Papers 4105, IZA Network @ LISER.
    23. Cameron, Stephen V & Heckman, James J, 1993. "The Nonequivalence of High School Equivalents," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(1), pages 1-47, January.
    24. Behrman, Jere R & Birdsall, Nancy, 1983. "The Quality of Schooling: Quantity Alone is Misleading," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 928-946, December.
    25. Gerrit Mueller & Erik Plug, 2006. "Estimating the Effect of Personality on Male and Female Earnings," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 60(1), pages 3-22, October.
    26. Gensowski, Miriam, 2018. "Personality, IQ, and lifetime earnings," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 170-183.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Melchior Vella, 2024. "The relationship between the Big Five personality traits and earnings: Evidence from a meta‐analysis," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(3), pages 685-712, July.
    2. Emmanuel Ngoy & Carla Sá & Paula Veiga, 2024. "Exploring socioeconomic-related inequality in children’s cognitive achievement in Peru," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 22(3), pages 809-832, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. E. Sahn David & M. Villa Kira, 2017. "Working Paper 280 - Labor Market Outcomes during Life Transition," Working Paper Series 2397, African Development Bank.
    2. Sahn, David E. & Villa, Kira M., "undated". "The Role of Personality, Cognition and Shocks in Determining Age of Entry into Labor Market, Sector of Employment, and within Sector Earnings," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205673, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Nas Ozen,Selin Efsan & Hut,Stefan & Levin,Victoria & Munoz Boudet,Ana Maria, 2020. "A Field Experiment on the Role of Socioemotional Skills and Gender for Hiring in Turkey," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9154, The World Bank.
    4. Wazah Pello-Esso & Ulf Gerdtham & Sara Larsson Lönn & Jan Sundquist & Kristina Sundquist, 2025. "Immigrant-Native Wage Gap in Sweden: Do Personality Traits Matter?," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 467-489, March.
    5. Mario Nosvelli, 2023. "Mens sana in corpore sano: the effects of sport on children’s learning in Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(2), pages 703-729, July.
    6. Thiel, Hendrik & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2013. "Noncognitive skills in economics: Models, measurement, and empirical evidence," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 189-214.
    7. Gensowski, Miriam & Gørtz, Mette & Schurer, Stefanie, 2021. "Inequality in personality over the life cycle," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 46-77.
    8. Torberg Falch & Ole Henning Nyhus & Bjarne Strøm, 2014. "Performance of Young Adults: The Importance of Different Skills," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 60(2), pages 435-462.
    9. Calero, Carla & Gonzalez Diez, Veronica & Soares, Yuri S.D. & Kluve, Jochen & Corseuil, Carlos Henrique, 2017. "Can arts-based interventions enhance labor market outcomes among youth? Evidence from a randomized trial in Rio de Janeiro," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 131-142.
    10. De Paola, Maria & Skatova, Ekaterina, 2024. "Non-cognitive skills and social isolation in late childhood: An investigation of their impact on school performance in Italy," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    11. Eva M. Berger & Luke Haywood, 2016. "Locus of Control and Mothers’ Return to Employment," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(4), pages 442-481.
    12. Peter J. Glick & David E. Sahn & Thomas F. Walker, 2016. "Household Shocks and Education Investments in Madagascar," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(6), pages 792-813, December.
    13. Humphries, John Eric & Kosse, Fabian, 2017. "On the interpretation of non-cognitive skills – What is being measured and why it matters," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 174-185.
    14. Martin Schlotter, 2011. "Age at Preschool Entrance and Noncognitive Skills before School - An Instrumental Variable Approach," ifo Working Paper Series 112, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    15. John Eric Humphries & Fabian Kosse, 2016. "On the interpretation of non-cognitive skills – what is being measured and why it matters," Working Papers 2016-025, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    16. Sauermann, Jan, 2015. "Worker Reciprocity and the Returns to Training: Evidence from a Field Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 9179, IZA Network @ LISER.
    17. Gavoille, Nicolas & Hazans, Mihails, 2022. "Personality Traits, Remote Work and Productivity," IZA Discussion Papers 15486, IZA Network @ LISER.
    18. Chen, Liwen & Wang, Guanghua, 2024. "Good personality traits in bad times: Does conscientiousness mitigate the adverse effects of graduating in a recession?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    19. Elke Lüdemann, 2011. "Schooling and the Formation of Cognitive and Non-cognitive Outcomes," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 39, July.
    20. Dohmen, Thomas, 2014. "Behavioral labor economics: Advances and future directions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 71-85.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10359. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Mark Fallak (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaalu.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.