Does Unconditional Cash during Pregnancy Affect Infant Health?

The poor often behave in less capable ways, which can further perpetuate poverty. We hypothesize that poverty directly impedes cognitive function and present two studies that test this hypothesis. First, we experimentally induced thoughts about finances and found that this reduces cognitive performance among poor but not in well-off participants. Second, we examined the cognitive function of farmers over the planting cycle. We found that the same farmer shows diminished cognitive performance before harvest, when poor, as compared with after harvest, when rich. This cannot be explained by differences in time available, nutrition, or work effort. Nor can it be explained with stress: Although farmers do show more stress before harvest, that does not account for diminished cognitive performance. Instead, it appears that poverty itself reduces cognitive capacity. We suggest that this is because poverty-related concerns consume mental resources, leaving less for other tasks. These data provide a previously unexamined perspective and help explain a spectrum of behaviors among the poor. We discuss some implications for poverty policy. Show more

Very-low-birth-weight infants (those weighing less than 1500 g) born during the initial years of neonatal intensive care have now reached young adulthood. We compared a cohort of 242 survivors among very-low-birth-weight infants born between 1977 and 1979 (mean birth weight, 1179 g; mean gestational age at birth, 29.7 weeks) with 233 controls from the same population in Cleveland who had normal birth weights. We assessed the level of education, cognitive and academic achievement, and rates of chronic illness and risk-taking behavior at 20 years of age. Outcomes were adjusted for sex and sociodemographic status. Fewer very-low-birth-weight young adults than normal-birth-weight young adults had graduated from high school (74 percent vs. 83 percent, P=0.04). Very-low-birth-weight men, but not women, were significantly less likely than normal-birth-weight controls to be enrolled in postsecondary study (30 percent vs. 53 percent, P=0.002). Very-low-birth-weight participants had a lower mean IQ (87 vs. 92) and lower academic achievement scores (P<0.001 for both comparisons). They had higher rates of neurosensory impairments (10 percent vs. <1 percent, P<0.001) and subnormal height (10 percent vs. 5 percent, P=0.04). The very-low-birth-weight group reported less alcohol and drug use and had lower rates of pregnancy than normal-birth-weight controls; these differences persisted when comparisons were restricted to the participants without neurosensory impairment. Educational disadvantage associated with very low birth weight persists into early adulthood. Show more