Gautam Rao, PhD│CHIBE Research Seminar

Speaker(s)

• 
  Gautam Rao, PhD — Associate Professor of Business and Economics, University of California, Berkeley

Event Description

Topic: “The long-run effect of psychotherapy on mental health, economic outcomes, and decision-making.” 

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We revisit a clinical trial that randomized depressed adults in India to a brief course of psychotherapy or a control condition. Five years later, the treatment group had 14 percentage points less depression than the control group. The intervention averted 9 months of depression on average over five years and cost only $66. Therapy changed people’s beliefs about themselves in three ways. First, it reduced their likelihood of seeing themselves as a failure or feeling bad about themselves. Second, when faced with a novel work opportunity and provided feedback on their performance, therapy made their beliefs about their performance more accurate . Third, it increased self-assessed levels of patience and altruism. Therapy did not increase levels of employment or consumption, possibly because of other constraints on employment in the largely female study sample.

Gautam Rao, PhD, MS, is an Associate Professor (with tenure) at the Haas School of Business and the Department of Economics at UC Berkeley. His research integrates psychological insights into economic issues, with a focus on topics pertinent to developing countries. Currently, his research agenda emphasizes the economics of mental health in these regions. His past projects include examining how sleep improvements impact economic outcomes for workers in India, the role of the endowment effect on consumer demand for collateralized loans in Kenya, the influence of research findings on the beliefs and policy decisions of mayors in Brazil, and the effects of socioeconomic integration in Indian schools on social preferences and behaviors. In collaboration with Frank Schilbach and Heather Schofield, Gautam co-leads the Behavioral Development Lab in India. He is also a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a faculty affiliate at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL). From 2018 to 2020, he contributed as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Political Economy.

Organizer(s)