Stress and decision-making in a Developing world context

This paper gauges the effect of physiological stress on time preference in the urban poor from informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. Using a standardized psychosocial stress challenge (the Trier social stress test (TSST)) to induce stress in a randomized setting, we attempt to estimate the effect of stress on decision making with incentive-compatible outcomes. While demonstrating discounting patterns similar to other research in the developed world, this current study finds some interesting results on the effect of stress on time preferences, but only in later periods. The study interprets this data and suggests methodological improvements and further ideas for this promising area of study.

Department dc:contributor.department

Sloan School of Management.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Devani, Amal

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Drazen Prelec.

• Sloan School of Management.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88376

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/88376