Personality and income in Mexico: Supervisor assessments vs. self-assessments

The effects of personality on earnings are still relatively unknown. Using a unique database, I examine the effects of eleven personality traits on compensation among college graduates in Mexico. With matched employee-supervisor surveys, I show that self-assessments and supervisor assessments of the same traits differ, and estimate the marginal effects of each on compensation. Consistent with previous studies on personality and earnings, regressions using self-assessments reveal Motivation traits to be the strongest predictors of compensation. Using supervisor assessments, however, I find that Openness to Experience has stronger impacts on compensation than does Motivation. The inclusion of supervisor assessments provides important information about how personality influences income directly, a unique feature of this essay.