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In the first part of the essay, data on young men from the National Education Longitudinal Survey is utilized to determine the relation of education and labor market outcomes to childhood behavior. The main finding is that eighth grade behavior is of the same order of importance to earnings as eighth grade test scores. Moreover, childhood behavior is associated with earnings at all educational levels. By contrast, achievement test scores are only related to earnings for young men with postsecondary degrees. Furthermore, behavior is persistent. Although school and family characteristics do relate to behavior, these factors explain only a small part of behavior.

In the second part, the relationships of motivation to test scores are investigated. Plenty of inferences regarding test scores and economic outcomes are drawn from tests administered to surveys participants, in which no performance-based incentives are supplied. Thus, the issue of effort, or motivation, might be crucial to the interpretation of the empirical findings. To illustrate the problem the black-white test score gap is examined. Given that blacks score lower than whites on standardized tests, a common conclusion drawn is that blacks are less capable than whites. If test scores are produced by two inputs, human capital and effort, where effort is costly, it is possible that the root of the test score gap is lack of effort, and not lack of knowledge. This lack of effort on the part of minorities might be the result of either actual or perceived lack of future opportunities. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth supporting indirect evidence are provided. To directly investigate the effect of incentives on the black-white test score gap, an experiment was conducted. The experimental results, however, are inconclusive regarding the roots of the black-white test score gap.

This paper suggests that scores of simple tests administered without performance-based incentives may depend on test-takers' personality traits associated with their level of intrinsic motivation. As an example of a simple test, I use the coding speed test that was administered without incentives to participants in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). I show that controlling for an extensive set of cognitive ability measures, the coding speed scores are correlated with the future earnings of male NLSY participants. The coding speed scores of the highly-motivated, though less-educated, group (potential recruits to the military), are higher than the NLSY participants' scores. I use controlled experiments to show directly that intrinsic motivation is an important component of the unincentivized coding speed scores. These results suggest that unincentivized test scores relate to economic success because they indicate favorable personality traits and not only cognitive skills.