I wonder if the new paper below, which I have not read, is relevant to the subject of strong-willed children.

The Economic Value of Breaking Bad Misbehavior, Schooling and the Labor Market
Nicholas W. Papageorge
Johns Hopkins University Department of Economics

Victor Ronda
Johns Hopkins University Department of Economics

Yu Zheng
City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) - Department of Economics & Finance

September 30, 2014

Abstract:
Prevailing research argues that childhood misbehavior in the classroom is bad for schooling and, presumably, bad overall. In contrast, we argue that childhood misbehavior reflects underlying traits that are potentially valuable in the labor market. We follow work from psychology and treat measured classroom misbehavior as reflecting two underlying non-cognitive traits. Next, we estimate a model of life-cycle decisions, allowing the impact of each of the two traits to vary by economic outcome. We show the first evidence that one of the traits capturing childhood misbehavior, discussed in psychological literature as the externalizing trait (and linked, for example, to aggression), does indeed reduce educational attainment, but also increases earnings. This finding highlights a broader point: non-cognition is not well summarized as a single underlying trait that is either good or bad per se. Using the estimated model, we assess competing pedagogical policies. For males, we find that policies aimed at eliminating the externalizing trait increase schooling attainment, but also reduce earnings. In comparison, policies that decrease the schooling penalty of the externalizing trait increase both schooling and earnings.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 64
Keywords: Labor, Education, Non-Cognitive Skills
JEL Classification: J10, J20, I20