Overlooked No More: Race, Ethnicity, and Psychological Attributes

Psychological attributes such as an individual’s willingness to engage in competition and take risks have received considerable attention by social scientists and policymakers alike as they individually predict income and educational attainment. The evidence concerning these attributes, however, is typically obtained from white (non-Latino) samples thus raising two questions: (i) To what extent are there racial/ethnic differences in these attributes? (ii) Can these differences (if any) help account for income differences between whites and non-whites? A new study, using a large sample of the US working population, aims to answer these questions.

Speakers

• Nikos Nikiforakis, Professor of Economics and Co-Director Center for Behavioral Institutional Design, NYUAD