Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/251429 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
DICE Discussion Paper No. 385
Publisher: 
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE), Düsseldorf
Abstract: 
This paper demonstrates that structural factors can shape people's self-control. We study the determinants of adult self-control using population-representative data and exploiting two sources of quasi-experimental variationermany's division and compulsory schooling reforms. We find that former East Germans have substantially higher levels of self-control than West Germans and provide evidence for suppression as a possible underlying mechanism. An increase in compulsory schooling had no causal effect on self-control. Moreover, we find that self-control increases linearly with age. In contrast to previous findings for children, there is no gender gap in adult self-control and family background does not predict self-control.
Subjects: 
determinants of self-control
quasi-experiments
German division
compulsory schooling reforms
population-representative evidence
Brief Self-Control Scale
JEL: 
D90
C26
ISBN: 
978-3-86304-384-1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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