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This study leverages random genetic transmission within families to disentangle the causal impact of personality traits on economic outcomes. By combining polygenic indexes with administrative tax data, researchers found that genetic propensities for emotional stability and conscientiousness are linked to increased earnings and household wealth, respectively. The observed effects of emotional stability on earnings persist even after controlling for educational attainment, cognitive performance, and depression, strengthening the evidence for a causal role of personality.
Genetic predisposition for emotional stability causally boosts earnings, independent of intelligence and education.
Personality is associated with economic outcomes, but whether these relationships are causal remains unclear. We exploit within-family variation in genetic propensity toward the Big Five generated by random genetic transmission from parents to offspring. Combining polygenic indexes from the Lifelines cohort study with 19 years of administrative tax records in the Netherlands, we find that greater genetic propensity toward emotional stability increases earnings and household wealth, while genetic propensity toward conscientiousness increases household wealth. The other three traits show no consistent pattern across outcomes and specifications. The effect of genetic propensity toward emotional stability on earnings remains positive as we progressively account for genetic propensity toward educational attainment, cognitive performance, and depression. These findings strengthen the evidence that personality causally affects earnings and wealth.