Mental health and social decision making: How depression alters the way we trust

Spazzoli, Rowan

Mental health and social decision making: How depression alters the way we trust

Master Thesis

2019

Abstract

Depression is one of the most prevalent causes of disease burden in the world, with a particularly high prevalence in South Africa. Significant evidence exists for how depression affects employment, income and education, but there is little research on how it affects social decision making. This dissertation addresses the direct impact of depression on the prosocial behaviours that influence economic outcomes, specifically trust and trustworthiness, rather than the economic outcomes themselves. Using experimental and survey data from a randomised control trial, I show that depression reduces trust but, counter-intuitively, increases the trustworthiness of individuals. Additionally, I show that the Activate! programme reduces depression in men and increases trust in all participants. These results have significant implications for how we consider depression in economics, particularly on how it affects poverty by influencing prosocial.

Keywords

Economic Development

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