Effects of positive attitude and optimism on wage and employment: A double selection approach

Adult employment probabilities of socially maladjusted children

“…Our findings are consistent with previous evidence, according to which non-cognitive skills negatively affect subsequent labor market outcomes (e.g., Le et al 2005;Fronstin et al 2005;Carneiro et al 2011;Mohanty 2012). Moreover, they indirectly agree with recent findings of studies focusing on personality traits (e.g., Uysal and Pohlmeier 2011;Viinikainen and Kokko 2012;Fletcher 2013).…”

“…Some previous studies reported that the negative impact is greater for females than for males on both employment (Le et al 2005) and wages (Mohanty 2012), while Uysal and Pohlmeier (2011) and Fletcher (2013) obtained mixed evidence.…”

“…Related literature has demonstrated the relevance of these factors in explaining several socio-economic outcomes, including education, employment and earnings (e.g., Bowles, et al 2001, Kuhn and Weinberger 2005, Heckman et al 2006, Waddel 2006, Borghans, ter Weel and Weinberg. 2008, Almlund et al 2011, Drago 2011and Mohanty 2012. Recently, some contributions have focused on the role of personality traits, as defined by the taxonomy known as the Big Five, on subsequent labor market outcomes (e.g., Uysal and Pohlmeier 2011, Cobb-Clark and Tan 2011, Viinikainen and Kokko 2012, Fletcher 2013.…”

“…The literature has emphasized gender differences when analyzing non-cognitive skills and their impact on subsequent outcomes (e.g., Le et al 2005;Cobb-Clark and Tan 2011;Uysal Pohlmeier 2011;Mohanty 2012;Fletcher 2013) because the distribution of both noncognitive skills and patterns in the labor market may differ by gender (e.g., Knights et al 2002). We explore these circumstances by adding a gender-specific investigation to the pooled analysis.…”

What determines happiness? Income or attitude: Evidence from the U.S. longitudinal data.

“…Note that attitude is an unobserved inner characteristic that can be observed only through an individual's reactions to different life events. A person with a positive attitude sees the brighter side of every situation (Mohanty, 2009a(Mohanty, , 2012(Mohanty, , 2013. Such a person may not only perceive and plan life circumstances in a positive way (DeNeve & Cooper, 1998;McCrae & Costa, 1986), but also often derives positive meanings even from negative events (Folkman, 1997;McCrae & Costa, 1986;Taylor, 1983;Taylor & Armor, 1996).…”