Depression for Economists

Jonathan de Quidt and Johannes Haushofer

No 22973, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent mental illnesses worldwide. Existing evidence suggests that it has both economic causes and consequences, such as unemployment. However, depression has not received significant attention in the economics literature. In this paper, we present a simple model which predicts the core symptoms of depression from economic primitives, i.e. beliefs. Specifically, we show that when exogenous shocks cause an agent to have pessimistic beliefs about the returns to her effort, this agent will exhibit depressive symptoms such undereating or overeating, insomnia or hypersomnia, and a decrease in labor supply. When these effects are strong enough, they can generate a poverty trap. We present descriptive evidence that illustrates the predicted relationships.

JEL-codes: D03 I1 I15 I3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-hpe
Note: DEV EH
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (33)

Published as Depression through the Lens of Economics: A Research Agenda , Jonathan de Quidt, Johannes Haushofer. in The Economics of Poverty Traps , Barrett, Carter, and Chavas. 2019

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