Personality and economics: Overview and proposed framework

We sketch a framework for exploring the overlap between, and integration of, personality/temperament/character traits and economics. This integrative framework incorporates the study of the evolution and biology of personality, and an investment model from economics. We offer models of the development of traits and the expression of behavior associated with traits that are environmentally contingent. We demonstrate how economic games offer a well-defined and constrained social context to explore and test predictions concerning traits derived from evolutionary theory. We discuss open areas of research in the integration of personality and economics, such as fundamental identification problems in identifying traits. We finish by proposing an agenda for collaborative research on the personality–economics interface (e.g., examining anti-social behavior, psychometrics of preferences, etc.).

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