OldTrapper
Well-Known Member
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/poor-people-arent-stupid-just-overwhelmed-study-finds-8C11030890
IMO, the Founders understood this far better then most today which is why they were “egalitarians” in philosophy. Adam Smith, in his “Wealth of Nations” also understood this as did Thomas Paine in his “Rights of Man”. One thing they all shared in common was their distaste for, and distrust of, corporations which they believed led to more poverty.
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/poor-people-arent-stupid-just-overwhelmed-study-finds-8C11030890
To check out this theory in a real-world situation, the researchers went to rural India, where sugarcane farmers are paid just once a year for their harvests. They are flush with cash right after the harvest, and pretty broke the last month before the harvest.
The farmers made more poor decisions in real life when faced with a financial crunch – they pawned more items – a truly awful financial decision – and were twice as likely to borrow money.
“This cannot be explained by differences in time available, nutrition, or work effort,” Shafir’s team wrote in their report.
“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.”
There’s no question that many poor people make poor decisions, the researchers add.
“The poor use less preventive health care, fail to adhere to drug regimens, are tardier and less likely to keep appointments, are less productive workers, less attentive parents, and worse managers of their finances,” they write, citing studies that support all their statements.
“These behaviors are troubling in their own right, but they are particularly troubling because they can further deepen poverty.”
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/status-and-stress/?_r=2
What’s the difference? Scientists have settled on an oddly subjective explanation: the more helpless one feels when facing a given stressor, they argue, the more toxic that stressor’s effects.
That sense of control tends to decline as one descends the socioeconomic ladder, with potentially grave consequences. Those on the bottom are more than three times as likely to die prematurely as those at the top. They’re also more likely to suffer from depression, heart disease and diabetes. Perhaps most devastating, the stress of poverty early in life can have consequences that last into adulthood.
Even those who later ascend economically may show persistent effects of early-life hardship. Scientists find them more prone to illness than those who were never poor. Becoming more affluent may lower the risk of disease by lessening the sense of helplessness and allowing greater access to healthful resources like exercise, more nutritious foods and greater social support; people are not absolutely condemned by their upbringing. But the effects of early-life stress also seem to linger, unfavorably molding our nervous systems and possibly even accelerating the rate at which we age.
http://www.slate.com/articles/busin...study_shows_money_troubles_make_decision.html
IMO, the Founders understood this far better then most today which is why they were “egalitarians” in philosophy. Adam Smith, in his “Wealth of Nations” also understood this as did Thomas Paine in his “Rights of Man”. One thing they all shared in common was their distaste for, and distrust of, corporations which they believed led to more poverty.
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/poor-people-arent-stupid-just-overwhelmed-study-finds-8C11030890
To check out this theory in a real-world situation, the researchers went to rural India, where sugarcane farmers are paid just once a year for their harvests. They are flush with cash right after the harvest, and pretty broke the last month before the harvest.
The farmers made more poor decisions in real life when faced with a financial crunch – they pawned more items – a truly awful financial decision – and were twice as likely to borrow money.
“This cannot be explained by differences in time available, nutrition, or work effort,” Shafir’s team wrote in their report.
“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.”
There’s no question that many poor people make poor decisions, the researchers add.
“The poor use less preventive health care, fail to adhere to drug regimens, are tardier and less likely to keep appointments, are less productive workers, less attentive parents, and worse managers of their finances,” they write, citing studies that support all their statements.
“These behaviors are troubling in their own right, but they are particularly troubling because they can further deepen poverty.”
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/status-and-stress/?_r=2
What’s the difference? Scientists have settled on an oddly subjective explanation: the more helpless one feels when facing a given stressor, they argue, the more toxic that stressor’s effects.
That sense of control tends to decline as one descends the socioeconomic ladder, with potentially grave consequences. Those on the bottom are more than three times as likely to die prematurely as those at the top. They’re also more likely to suffer from depression, heart disease and diabetes. Perhaps most devastating, the stress of poverty early in life can have consequences that last into adulthood.
Even those who later ascend economically may show persistent effects of early-life hardship. Scientists find them more prone to illness than those who were never poor. Becoming more affluent may lower the risk of disease by lessening the sense of helplessness and allowing greater access to healthful resources like exercise, more nutritious foods and greater social support; people are not absolutely condemned by their upbringing. But the effects of early-life stress also seem to linger, unfavorably molding our nervous systems and possibly even accelerating the rate at which we age.
http://www.slate.com/articles/busin...study_shows_money_troubles_make_decision.html