“Does Alleviating Poverty Increase Cognitive Performance? Short- and Long-Term Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial”, Barnabas Szaszi, Bence Palfi, Gabor Neszveda, Aikaterini Taka, Péter Szécsi, Christopher Blattman, Julian C. Jamison, Margaret Sheridan2023-10-05 (economics, IQ; backlinks)⁠:

[OSF] In this Registered Report, we investigated the impact of a cash transfer based poverty alleviation program on cognitive performance.

We analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial [Blattman et al 2017] conducted on low-income, high-risk individuals in Liberia where a random half of the participants (n = 251) received a $243.55^$200₂₀₁₇ lump-sum unconditional cash transfer—equivalent to ~300% of their monthly income—while the other half (n = 222) did not. We tested both the short-term (2–5 weeks) and the long-term (12–13 months) impact of the treatment via several executive function measures.

The observed effect sizes of cash transfers on cognitive performance (β = 0.13 for the short-term & β = 0.08 for the long-term) were roughly 3–4× smaller than suggested by prior [un-pre-registered] non-randomized research. [ie. >75% effect inflation from correlation + p-hacking]

Bayesian analyses revealed that the overall evidence supporting the existence of these effects is inconclusive. A multiverse analysis showed that neither alternative analytical specifications nor alternative processing of the dataset changed the results consistently.

However cognitive performance varied between the executive function measures, suggesting that cash transfers may affect the subcomponents of executive function differently.

…In the present study, we tested whether alleviating poverty influences cognitive functioning on a poor and vulnerable population: street youth in Monrovia, Liberia. The study participants, all men between the ages of 18 and 35, had weekly cash earnings of around $20.7^$17₂₀₁₇ mainly from temporary, low-skilled work. A quarter were homeless in the two weeks preceding the intervention, and they slept hungry on average 1.3 days a week. We used data from a randomized controlled field experiment described in detail in Blattman et al 2017, testing the effect of a $243.55^$200₂₀₁₇ [ie 12 weeks’ income] lump-sum unconditional cash transfer on the cognitive performance of the participants 2–5 weeks and again 12–13 months after the cash transfer intervention.

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