Your personality is a better predictor of how much you'll struggle with government red tape than your money or education.
We typically view 'administrative burden' as a problem of poverty or lack of education, but researchers found that stable personality traits like conscientiousness and emotional stability are the primary drivers of how hard it is for someone to handle paperwork. These psychological traits match or exceed the explanatory power of traditional factors like income or health when it comes to navigating state systems.
Personality as a Mechanism of Inequality in Experiences of Administrative Burdens
SocArXiv · 7wvh4_v1
Administrative burdens—the learning, compliance, and psychological costs citizens experience when interacting with the state—vary substantially across individuals. Existing research shows that burdens are unequally distributed and shaped by individuals’ social background, their administrative skills, and resource-related pressures such as health problems and financial scarcity. However, we know much less about the psychological foundations of inequality in burdensome experiences. This article ex