Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/334685 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 18270
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper examines the stability of self-control over time using nationally-representative longitudinal data from Australia. We track the same individuals between 2019 and 2023, a period encompassing one of the most disruptive global crisis in recent history: the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these extraordinary circumstances, self-control remained remarkably stable: its mean and distribution were unchanged, and individuals largely preserved their relative positions. Within-person changes were small, and unrelated to variations in state-level exposure to both the spread of the virus and the policy responses that ensued. The evidence we report suggests that self-control is a deeply rooted, trait-like characteristic that persists even under extreme societal stress.
Subjects: 
self-control
HILDA
stability
COVID-19
JEL: 
D91
D01
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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