The stability of big-five personality traits

We demonstrate that Big-Five personality traits are stable for working-age adults over a four-year period. Mean population changes are small and constant across age groups. Intra-individual changes are generally unrelated to adverse life events and are not economically meaningful.

► Using a representative sample of working-age adults, we assess whether Big-Five personality is stable. ► Average personality changes are small and do not vary substantially across age groups over four years. ► Intra-individual personality change is generally unrelated to experiencing adverse life events. ► The wage equivalent of accumulative changes in personality due to shocks is small. ► Like other non-cognitive traits, personality can be modeled as a stable input into economic decisions.