Exposure to Poverty and Productivity

Dalton, Patricio S.; Gonzalez Jimenez, Victor H.; Noussair, Charles N.

dc.contributor.author	Dalton, Patricio S.
dc.contributor.author	Gonzalez Jimenez, Victor H.
dc.contributor.author	Noussair, Charles N.
dc.date.accessioned	2017-04-11T18:20:53Z
dc.date.available	2017-04-11T18:20:53Z
dc.date.issued	2017-01-26
dc.identifier.citation	Exposure to Poverty and Productivity 2017, 12 (1):e0170231 PLOS ONE	en
dc.identifier.issn	1932-6203
dc.identifier.pmid	28125621
dc.identifier.doi	10.1371/journal.pone.0170231
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10150/623093
dc.description.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.
dc.description.sponsorship	Center for Economic Research at Tilburg University	en
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.publisher	PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE	en
dc.relation.url	http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0170231	en
dc.rights	© 2017 Dalton et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.	en
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.title	Exposure to Poverty and Productivity	en
dc.type	Article	en
dc.contributor.department	Univ Arizona, Dept Econ, Eller Coll Management	en
dc.identifier.journal	PLOS ONE	en
dc.description.note	Open Access Journal.	en
dc.description.collectioninformation	This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.	en
dc.eprint.version	Final published version	en
refterms.dateFOA	2018-09-11T18:30:01Z
html.description.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.