Esther Duflo tells us about a program in West Bengal. People were given a “small productive asset” such as a farm animal for instance, and some money so as to prevent people from eating or selling the animal.
Well after the financial help and hand-holding had stopped, the families of those who had been randomly chosen for the … programme were eating 15% more, earning 20% more each month and skipping fewer meals than people in a comparison group. They were also saving a lot. The effects were so large and persistent that they could not be attributed to the direct effects of the grants: people could not have sold enough milk, eggs or meat to explain the income gains. Nor were they simply selling the assets (although some did). (source)
The most likely reason for this is hope. The handouts broke the cycle of pessimism and lack of hope. People were finally offered some mental space to think about something else than just mere survival. The tiny bit of security that came with a farm animal and a financial buffer opened up the possibility of planning, of looking into alternative livelihoods etc. For example, recipients worked 28% more hours, mostly on activities not directly related to the assets they were given. The rate of depression among participants also plummeted.
Some older and related posts:
- on poverty and lack of aspiration
- on poverty and willpower
- on the bee-sting theory of poverty
- on the psychological effects of poverty.
More posts in this series are here.
cosmologicallyinsignificant.wordpress.com 
Very good post. It is a pity that there is no ‘Like’ button :-)
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As a wordpress user, you should see a “like” bottom in your navigation bar on top, at least if you’re logged in and if you’ve clicked on the title of the post first. Perhaps I’ll add a button if I can figure out how. This question came up before.
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