Exposure to Poverty and Productivity

Patricio Dalton (), Victor H Gonzalez Jimenez and Charles Noussair

PLOS ONE, 2017, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: We study whether exposure to poverty can induce affective states that decrease productivity. In a controlled laboratory setting, we find that subjects randomly assigned to a treatment, in which they view a video featuring individuals that live in extreme poverty, exhibit lower subsequent productivity compared to subjects assigned to a control treatment. Questionnaire responses, as well as facial recognition software, provide quantitative measures of the affective state evoked by the two treatments. Subjects exposed to images of poverty experience a more negative affective state than those in the control treatment. Further analysis shows that individuals in a more positive emotional state exhibit less of a treatment effect. Also, those who exhibit greater attentiveness upon viewing the poverty video are less productive. The results are consistent with the notion that exposure to poverty can induce a psychological state in individuals that adversely affects productivity.

Date: 2017
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Related works:
Working Paper: Exposure to poverty and productivity (2017)
Working Paper: Exposure to Poverty and Productivity (2016)
Working Paper: Exposure to Poverty and Productivity (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0170231

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170231

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