Barker, Nathan
[VerfasserIn];
Bryan, Gharad
[VerfasserIn];
Karlan, Dean
[VerfasserIn];
Ofori-Atta, Angela
[VerfasserIn];
Udry, Christopher
[VerfasserIn]
;
National Bureau of Economic Research
Mental Health Therapy as a Core Strategy for Increasing Human Capital
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Beschreibung:
We study the impact of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for individuals selected from the general population of poor households in rural Ghana. Results from 2-3 months after a randomized intervention show strong impacts on mental and physical health, cognitive and socioemotional skills, and downstream economic outcomes. We find no evidence of heterogeneity by baseline mental distress; we argue that this is because CBT can improve human capital for a general population of poor individuals through two pathways. First, CBT reduces vulnerability to deteriorating mental health; and second, CBT directly improves bandwidth, increasing cognitive and socioemotional skills and hence economic outcomes