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> The researchers then monitored the workers' on-the-job performance, comparing them to a group of workers that didn't get paid upfront. The researchers find th

by bko 6y ago

> The researchers then monitored the workers' on-the-job performance, comparing them to a group of workers that didn't get paid upfront. The researchers find that the workers who were paid upfront were significantly more productive, making 6.2% more plates per hour. The biggest effect was seen with the poorest workers. Even more, the plates they made were less likely to be marred by mistakes, indicating they were more attentive on the job. > The authors conclude that giving workers cash upfront helped alleviate the mental burden of their financial problems and freed them to be more productive. It echoes findings from other studies on the psychological consequences of poverty, but it is novel because it looked at the effects of it at a real job rather than in a laboratory setting. I'm not sure I would come up with that conclusion based on the study. My interpretation would be that the workers were grateful for the advance or felt there was a catch. But then again, if you had the opposite effect you could argue that they had no accountability. Or a more narrow interpretation would be that workers that are paid up front are more productive. That's the problem with interpreting these studies, you can always make a story. I think it would the argument for the debt alleviation would just be a cash grant, not tied to the work. I'm not sure why they didn't do that.

socialdemocrat 6y ago
The conclusions are pretty sound IMHO because they match so well other studies of this kind. E.g. when doing IQ tests on people who are poor part of the year and much better off the other half of the year, once can see a 14 point difference in score. That is quite profound. Basically the stress of poverty pulls people down in every possible way. It is not just in terms of producing plates, but also in your ability to perform mental tasks. There are also other studies that show that people who are paid below what they feel they are worth, will perform less well. Basically human productivity seems to work in thresholds. If you are above the threshold, then increases in salary does not improve your performance. Being paid a million or 2 million makes little difference. But if you are getting way below what you seem descent and normal for the type of work you are doing or you feel unfairly compensated relative to other workers, then performance has been shown to typically lag. Basically there is a price to pay when engaging in unfairness. It affects people. We can even find the same results within animals. An animal can be fine eating one kind of food, but when that animal learns that that a peer is getting significantly better food, it will often get very upset, angry and stressed.

by bko 6y ago

socialdemocrat 6y ago

The conclusions are pretty sound IMHO because they match so well other studies of this kind. E.g. when doing IQ tests on people who are poor part of the year and much better off the other half of the year, once can see a 14 point difference in score. That is quite profound. Basically the stress of poverty pulls people down in every possible way. It is not just in terms of producing plates, but also in your ability to perform mental tasks. There are also other studies that show that people who are paid below what they feel they are worth, will perform less well. Basically human productivity seems to work in thresholds. If you are above the threshold, then increases in salary does not improve your performance. Being paid a million or 2 million makes little difference. But if you are getting way below what you seem descent and normal for the type of work you are doing or you feel unfairly compensated relative to other workers, then performance has been shown to typically lag. Basically there is a price to pay when engaging in unfairness. It affects people. We can even find the same results within animals. An animal can be fine eating one kind of food, but when that animal learns that that a peer is getting significantly better food, it will often get very upset, angry and stressed.