Myopic misery: Maternal depression, child investments, and the neurobiological poverty trap

Holger Strulik

No 294, University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics from University of Goettingen, Department of Economics

Abstract: In this paper, I explore in an overlapping generations framework, a mechanism motivating a neurobiological poverty trap. Poverty causes stress and depression in individuals susceptible to depression. Poor and depressed individuals discount the future at a higher rate and invest less in the human capital of their children than mentally healthy or rich individuals. This gene-environment interaction generates a vicious cycle in which poor individuals inherit not only susceptibility to depression but also stress and poverty. I show that a successful one-time intervention has the power to permanently eliminate the neurobiological poverty trap.

Keywords: child investment; development; depression; discounting; intergenerational transmission; gene-environment interaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 D91 I15 I25 I30 O12 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge, nep-hpe and nep-neu
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https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/147421/1/872122530.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: MYOPIC MISERY: MATERNAL DEPRESSION, CHILD INVESTMENTS, AND THE NEUROBIOLOGICAL POVERTY TRAP (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:cegedp:294

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