MYOPIC MISERY: MATERNAL DEPRESSION, CHILD INVESTMENTS, AND THE NEUROBIOLOGICAL POVERTY TRAP

Holger Strulik

Macroeconomic Dynamics, 2019, vol. 23, issue 2, 522-534

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.

Date: 2019
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Working Paper: Myopic misery: Maternal depression, child investments, and the neurobiological poverty trap (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:macdyn:v:23:y:2019:i:02:p:522-534_00

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