- External publication
Your gain is my pain: Negative psychological externalities of cash transfers.
Johannes Haushofer, James Reisinger & Jeremy Shapiro
- October 28, 2015
- 2:23 am
SECTOR
PROJECT TYPE
DOI
Location
BEHAVIORAL THEME
OVERVIEW
We use a randomized controlled trial of unconditional cash transfers in Kenya to study the effects of exogenous changes in the wealth of neighbors on psychological wellbeing, consumption, and assets. We find that increases in neighbors’ wealth strongly decrease life satisfaction and moderately decrease consumption and asset holdings. The decrease in life satisfaction induced by transfers to neighbors more than offsets the direct positive effect of transfers, and is largest for individuals who did not receive a direct transfer themselves.
THEMATIC AREAS
We find evidence of hedonic adaptation, in that the negative spillover effect of transfers to neighbors decreases over time, at
a rate similar to that of direct transfers.