We provide the first joint evidence on the relationship between individuals' cognitive abilities, their personality and earnings for Germany. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, we employ scores from an ultra-short IQ-test and a set of measures of personality traits, namely...

Summary Over the last decades the German education system underwent numerous reforms in order to improve “equality of opportunity”, i.e. to guarantee all pupils independent of parental background equal access to higher education. At the same time internationally comparative evidence yields...

The author examines the relationship between individuals' personality traits and labor market success in the United Kingdom using data from the British Household Panel Study (BHPS). With longitudinal individuals' earnings information as well as psychological profile data of respondents...

Although it is well-known that individuals’ risk attitudes are related to behavioral outcomes such as smoking, portfolio decisions, and educational attainment, there is virtually no evidence of whether parental risk attitudes affect the educational attainment of their dependent children. We...

What are the long-term effects of Communism on economically relevant notions such as social trust, fairness, and scope of cooperation? To answer this question, we study the post-unification trajectory of convergence between East and West German individuals with regard to trust, cooperation, and...

Recent research suggests for height-wage premiums because of differentials in cognitive abilities. This note adds to the discussion and examines whether verbal and non-verbal competencies are related to height. The results indicate that height is non-linearly associated to males' abilities.

Over the last decades the German education system underwent numerous reforms in order to improve “equality of opportunity”, i.e. to guarantee all pupils independent of parental background equal access to higher education. At the same time internationally comparative evidence yields that...