title: Exposure to Poverty and Productivity.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Patricio S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Dalton
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Victor H
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: Gonzalez Jimenez
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Eller College of Management, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America.
authors.forename: Charles N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Noussair
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D060909:Economics, Behavioral / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004526:Efficiency; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D011203:Poverty / Q000191:economics*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires