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How Poverty Affects the Brain and Behavior
Poverty holds a seemingly unbreakable grip on families, neighborhoods, cities, and entire countries. It stretches from one generation to the next, trapping individuals in a socioeconomic pit that is nearly impossible to ascend. Part of
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Microlending Success Starts with a Smile
The economist Muhammad Yunus was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 in recognition for his pioneering work in microlending – making small loans available to people living in poverty. Yunus believed that entrepreneurs in
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What Poverty Problem? Everyone I Know Has Money!
Pacific Standard: There are good reasons why wealthy people are often reluctant to support policies, and political parties, that aim to distribute wealth more widely. For one thing, it isn’t in their short-term self-interest (as
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How the Poor Make Better Financial Decisions Than the Wealthy
Slate: People often assume that the poor are less competent than the wealthy. Some even suggest that the poor have flawed values or ways of thinking. But my colleagues and I have recently found that
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Brains, Schools and a Vicious Cycle of Poverty
The Wall Street Journal: A fifth or more of American children grow up in poverty, with the situation worsening since 2000, according to census data. At the same time, as education researcher Sean Reardon has
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Brain, Behavior, and the Economy
Psychological science, once criticized for underestimating the impact of socioeconomic factors on psychological development and functioning, now plays a lead role in investigating how wealth and poverty affect thought, emotion, and action throughout our lives.