Researchers measure the impact of postprandial somnolence, or "food coma" on the test-taking abilities of adolescents and young adults in India.

Authors: Justine Hervé, Subha Mani, Jere Behrman, Ramanan Laxminarayan, and Arindam Nandi

Food coma, also known as postprandial somnolence, is a commonly cited reason for experiencing reduced alertness during mid-afternoon worldwide. By using exogenous variation in the timing of tests and, hence, by extension, plausibly exogenous variation in the temporal distance between an individual’s last meal and the time of test, we examine the causal impact of postprandial somnolence on cognitive capacities. Analyzing novel time use data on ∼ 4,600 Indian adolescents and young adults, we find that testing within an hour after a meal reduces test-takers’ scores on English, native language, math, and Raven’s tests by 8, 8, 8, and 16 percent, respectively, compared to test-takers who took the tests more than an hour after their meal. We further find that the negative effect of postprandial somnolence on cognition operates through increased feelings of fatigue and depletion of cognitive resources.

Citation:

Hervé, Justine, Subha Mani, Jere Behrman, Ramanan Laxminarayan, and Arindam Nandi. 2024. “Food Coma is Real: The Effect of Digestive Fatigue on Adolescents’ Cognitive Performance.” University of Pennsylvania Center Working Paper (PSC/PARC).

Penn Today features the Population Studies Center as the co-sponsor for the Symposium on Immigration Policy, and Chenoa Flippen as the event host. 

Citations:

"Immigration Policy and the 2024 Presidential Election." Penn Today, K de Groot, March 25, 2024. 

Penn SAS News features Irma Elo for being appointed as Tamsen and Michael Brown Presidential Professor. 

Citations:

"Irma Elo Named Tamsen and Michael Brown Presidential Professor in Sociology." Penn SAS News, March 19, 2024. 

Take a look at the Penn Population Studies Newsletter for upcoming events, new PARC research associates, and researchers featuring in news articles. 

Penn LDI features a study by Eugenia South that gathers personal experiences to aid the dismantling of structural racism in medicine. 

Citations:

"Black Patients Feel Dismissed and Skeptical After Their Experiences in the ED." Penn LDI, M Meline, March 8, 2024.

E C South, et al. "Perspectives of Black Patients on Racism Within Emergency Care," JAMA Health Forum. 

Penn LDI features the new study by Rachel Werner and Norma Coe, that examined data on over 2 million Medicare beneficiaries who had knee or hip replacements, among the most common surgeries. They found that the switch to bundled payments caused a 9% to 15% increase in the need for additional help with daily tasks after paid home health services ended. 

Citations:

"Medicare Payment Reform Saves Money on Surgeries But Puts More Work on Unpaid Home Caregivers." Penn LDI, J Hinckley & H Levins, March 6, 2024. 

R M Werner, N B Coe, et al. "The Effects of Post-Acute Care Payment Reform on the Need for and Receipt of Caregiving," American Journal of Health Economics. 

"Increasing the Burden on Unpaid Home Caregivers," YouTube, LDIvideo, February 29, 2024. 

Penn Today and Knowledge at Wharton features Angela Lee Duckworth for her new study on that found that breaking down a commitment to volunteer 200 hours per year for a nonprofit into smaller subgoals increased the amount of time volunteers spent helping by 7-8% over several months. 

Citations:

"Want to Achieve Your Dreams? Try Subdividing Your Goals." Knowledge at Wharton, S Murray, March 4, 2024.

"Want to Achieve Your Dreams? Try Subdividing Your Goals." Penn Today, S Murray, March 8, 2024. 

A L Duckworth, et al. "A Field Experiment on Subgoal Framing to Boost Volunteering: The Trade-Off between Goal Granularity and Flexibility," American Psychological Association. 

Penn Today and Annenberg School for Communication highlights Tukufu Zuberi at the 2nd Annual W.E.B. Du Bois Lecture in Public Social Science, discussing Du Bois’ contributions to the field and to humanity.

Citations:

"The Legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois: ‘Something Fresh to Say’." Penn Today, K García, February 27, 2024.

"The Legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois: ‘Something Fresh to Say’." Annenberg School for Communication, K García, March 1, 2024.

Knowledge at Wharton features executive director of Wharton’s Pension Research Council Olivia Mitchell joining the show to discuss why retirement gets better with annuities.

Citations:

"Why You Should Consider Deferred Income Annuities for Your Retirement Portfolio." Knowledge at Wharton, D Loney, February 22, 2024. 

The new  Penn Population Studies Newsletter highlights researches in the news, awards received by researchers, new working papers, and some exciting events coming up. 

Mother Jones quotes Dorothy Roberts on coerced home searches. Roberts says "Coerced home searches, invasion of families’ privacy, and threatening parents with child removal are integral aspects of a system designed to disrupt the most marginalized communities in America." 

Citations:

"Parents Are Suing New York City Over Coercive, Traumatizing Home Searches." Mother Jones, J Lurie, February 21, 2024.

The Atlantic features Olivia Mitchell in an article discussing what companies owe retirees. 

Citations:

"What Companies Owe Retirees." The Atlantic, L Kelley, February 20, 2024. 

Penn Today and the Annenberg School for Communication features Duncan Watts for his new study. The study from the Computational Social Science Lab finds that the YouTube recommendation system is less influential on users’ political views than is commonly believed. 

Citations:

"The YouTube Algorithm Isn’t Radicalizing People." Annenberg School for Communication, H Reissman & D Gardiner, February 19, 2024. 

"The YouTube Algorithm Isn’t Radicalizing People." Penn Today, H Reissman & D Gardiner, February 20, 2024. 

D J Watts, et al. "Causally Estimating the Effect of YouTube’s Recommender System Using Counterfactual Bots," PNAS.

Penn Today highlights a new study by Eugenio Paglino, Irma Elo, and Samuel Preston on the relation between natural and Covid-19 deaths. 

Citations:

"Researchers Find Many ‘Natural’ and COVID-19 Deaths Likely Related." Penn Today, N Magubane, February 14, 2024. 

E Paglino, I T Elo, S H Preston, et al. "Excess Natural-Cause Mortality in US Counties and Its Association with Reported COVID-19 Deaths," PNAS. 

Take a look at the Penn Population Studies Newsletter for upcoming events, recent publications by PSC and PARC research associates, and researchers featuring in news articles. 

Hawaii Public Radio features Dorothy Roberts talking about the death of a 10-year-old Oʻahu girl, who officials say was abused and starved by her legal guardians. 

Citations:

"A Critique of the Child Welfare System after Death of 10-Year-Old Girl." Hawaii Public Radio, C Cruz, February 13, 2024. 

Penn Today features Courtney Boen as the thesis advisor of Taussia Boadi. Their research looks at the relationship between adverse childhood experiences, birth outcomes, and resilience in Black women.

Citations:

"Who, What, Why: Taussia Boadi on Trauma and Black Maternal Health." Penn Today, K d Groot, February 12, 2024. 

Penn LDI highlights that Wharton Healthcare Analytics Lab will be collaborating with Kevin Volpp, and his team at the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics to integrate dynamic adaptation and personalization into clinical trials. 

Citations:

"Going Head-to-Head with the New Health Care AI Revolution." Penn LDI, H Levins, February 12, 2024.

Penn Today features Atheendar Venkataramani for finding that black adults across the U.S. suffer from sleep problems following exposure to news about unarmed black individuals killed by police during police encounters.

Citations:

"Killings of Unarmed Black People and Racial Disparities in Sleep Health." Penn Today, E Horvath, February 8, 2024. 

A S Venkataramani, e al. "Officer-Involved Killings of Unarmed Black People and Racial Disparities in Sleep Health," JAMA Internal Medicine. 

Postdoctoral fellow Helene Purcell co-authored a paper along with Justine Herve and Sneha Mani. 

Abstract: Personality traits play an important role in shaping labor market outcomes, but the associated behaviors that lead to these differences are understudied. In this paper, we examine the returns to the Big Five personality traits as well as the mechanisms through which personality affects employment and earnings. We find conscientiousness to be a significant predictor of both employment and earnings. We further show that the association between conscientiousness and earnings operates primarily through one specific behavior, namely, higher work intensity. Additionally, we are able to rule out selection into specific job types as potential channels for the positive relationship between conscientiousness and earnings.

Herve, Justine, Helene Purcell, and Subha Mani. 2023. “Conscientiousness Matters: How Does Personality Affect Labor Market Outcomes?” University of Pennsylvania Population Center Working Paper (PSC/PARC)

Research Associate Jeremy Greenwood co-authors a paper along with Effrosyni Adamopoulou, Nezih Guner, and Karen Kopecky. 

Abstract: The role of friends in the US opioid epidemic is examined. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health), adults aged 25-34 and their high school best friends are focused on. An instrumental variable technique is employed to estimate peer effects in opioid misuse. Severe injuries in the previous year are used as an instrument for opioid misuse in order to estimate the causal impact of someone misusing opioids on the probability that their best friends also misuse. The estimated peer effects are significant: Having a best friend with a reported serious injury in the previous year increases the probability of own opioid misuse by around 7 percentage points in a population where 17 percent ever misuses opioids. The effect is driven by individuals without a college degree and those who live in the same county as their best friends.

Adamopoulou, Effrosyni, Jeremy Greenwood, Nezih Guner, and Karen Kopecky. 2024. “The Role of Friends in the Opioid Epidemic.” University of Pennsylvania Population Center Working Paper (PSC/PARC).

Research Associate Jere Behrman co-authors a paper with Shireen AlAzzawi, Hai-Anh Dang, Vladimir Hlasny, and Kseniya Abanokova. 

Abstract: Various challenges are thought to render female-headed households (FHHs) vulnerable to poverty in the Arab region. Yet, previous studies have mixed results and the absence of household panel survey data hinders analysis of poverty dynamics. We address these challenges by proposing a novel typology of FHHs and analyze synthetic panels that we constructed from 20 rounds of repeated cross-sectional surveys spanning the past two decades from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Mauritania, Palestine, and Tunisia. We find that the definition of FHHs matters for measuring poverty levels and dynamics. Most types of FHHs are less poor than non-FHHs on average, but FHHs with a major share of female adults are generally poorer. FHHs are more likely to escape poverty than households on average, but FHHs without children are most likely to do so. While more children are generally associated with more poverty for FHHs, there is heterogeneity across countries in addition to heterogeneity across FHH measures. Our findings provide useful inputs for social protection and employment programs aiming at reducing gender inequalities and poverty in the Arab region.

AlAzzawi, Shireen, Hai-Anh Dang, Vladimir Hlasny, Kseniya Abanokova, and Jere Behrman. 2023. “Female Headship and Poverty in the Arab Region: Analysis of Trends and Dynamics Based on A New Typology.” University of Pennsylvania Population Center Working Paper (PSC/PARC).

Research Associate Jere Behrman co-authors a paper along with Muhammad Farhan Majid and Hanna Wang. 

Abstract: Most minimum wage (MW) research focuses on wage and employment impacts in high-income countries. Little is known about broader impacts, including on parental and child health in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) where most people affected by MWs live. This study studies MW effects on employment, earnings, parental health and child health in Indonesia, the third most-populous LMIC. Results include: MWs improve men’s earnings, parental hemoglobin, and child height-for age and reduce pregnancy complications. This study highlights nuanced but positive roles MWs may play in improving parental and child health, despite not directly affecting women’s earnings and labor supplies.

Majid, Farhan, Jere R. Behrman, and Hanna Wang. 2023. “Minimum Wages and Intergenerational Health.” University of Pennsylvania Population Center Working Paper (PSC/PARC).

Min Kim writes a paper on Financial Literacy, Portfolio Choice, and Wealth Inequality.

Abstract: I develop a general equilibrium model in which households allocate their wealth to safe and risky assets (“bonds” and “stocks”) and accumulate financial literacy to raise their risk-adjusted stock returns. Calibrated to match financial literacy and stock market participation rate of U.S. households, the model demonstrates that a policy subsidizing financial literacy acquisition increases short-run stock investments. In equilibrium, however, the resulting aggregate capital growth lowers the average equity premium, thereby moderating the subsidy’s impact. The policy mitigates wealth inequality by inducing heterogeneous portfolio adjustments across the wealth distribution. With the subsidy, the middle wealth quartiles acquire more financial literacy and shift their portfolios toward stocks. The top quartile attains its maximum literacy level prior to the subsidy and shifts toward bonds to compensate for lower stock returns. The ratio of total wealth held by the top quartile versus the rest of the population decreases.

Kim, Min. 2023. “Financial Literacy, Portfolio Choice, and Wealth Inequality: A General Equilibrium Approach.” University of Pennsylvania Population Center Working Paper (PSC/PARC).

Medpage Today features Linda Aiken talking about the late Claire Fagin. She says she was a "nurse visionary with the savvy to make things happen". 

Citations:

"Nurse Community Mourns 'Trailblazer' Claire Fagin, PhD, RN." Medpage Today, S Firth, February 6, 2024. 

Research Associate Petra Todd co-authors a paper along with Shasha Wang.

Abstract: In the US, women for decades have gone to college at higher rates than men, but they are less likely to choose applied-STEM college majors or occupations. Using the NLSY79 and 97 datasets, this paper assesses the importance of adolescent skills and high school course-taking in explaining gender disparities in four-year college completion, college major, and occupational choice. It considers five cognitive skill areas (math, verbal, science, administrative, and mechanical) and one non-cognitive measure and examines how gender skill gaps evolve over a twenty-year time span. Logistic, CART and nonparametric random forest models are estimated to identify the skill sets, course-taking and family background characteristics that best predict educational and occupational choices. Results show that women are on average on par with men in mathematics skills and exceed men in verbal and noncognitive skills, but they lag behind in mechanical and, to a lesser extent, science skills. Estimates show that a combination of mathematics and mechanical skills along with intensive high school exposure to science and math courses are key predictors of choosing applied-STEM majors and careers. This paper also develops and implements a nonparametric decomposition approach to quantify how eliminating adolescent gender skill disparities would affect women’s and men’s entry into STEM fields.

Todd, Petra E. and Shasha Wang. 2023. “Understanding Gender Disparities in STEM Major and Occupation Choices: A Random Forest Approach.” University of Pennsylvania Population Center Working Paper (PSC/PARC).

Penn Medicine features Atheendar Venkataramani's research that found statistically significant decreases in sleep duration among Black adults, after exposure to deaths of unarmed Black individuals during police encounters.

Citations:

"Black Adults Across the U.S. Suffer From Sleep Problems Following Exposure to News About Unarmed Black Individuals Killed by Police During Police Encounters." Penn Medicine, February 5, 2024. 

A S Venkataramani, et al. "Officer-Involved Killings of Unarmed Black People and Racial Disparities in Sleep Health," JAMA Internal Medicine. 

Penn Today highlights research associate Dorothy Roberts addressing the question on civil rights being enough, during the 23rd annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture in Social Justice. 

Citations:

"‘Are Civil Rights Enough?’" Penn Today, K Garcia, January 31, 2024. 

Knowledge at Wharton features Duncan Watts for his study on quantifying individual and collective common sense. 

Citations:

"What Is Common Sense?" Knowledge at Wharton, N Magubane, January 30, 2024. 

D J Watts, et al. "A Framework For Quantifying Individual and Collective Common Sense," PNAS. 

Check out the first Penn Population Studies Newsletter of 2024. This newsletter showcases researchers featured in the news, upcoming events such as PARC aging chats and the aging retreat, updates on the PSC Colloquium Series, and information on the Quartet Pilot Research Project Competition.

Penn Today features research associate Duncan Watts for his study on individual and collective common sense. 

Citations:

"The Commonalities of Common Sense." Penn Today, N Magubane, January 23, 2024. 

D J Watts, et al. "A Framework for Quantifying Individual and Collective Common Sense," PNAS. 

Citations:

"Two-And-A-Half Decades of Research in Malawi." Penn Today, E Moser, January 22, 2024. 

Parents quotes research associate Paula Fomby on contraceptive methods. 

Citations:

"American Families Will Shrink in the Near Future, New Study Says." Parents, B A Mayer, January 19, 2024. 

MarketWatch quotes Olivia Mitchell, stating that individuals experiencing loneliness or depression are significantly more susceptible to falling victim to fraud.

Citations:

"A Rude Awakening: Lack of Financial Literacy Hurts The Young. What About Older People?" MarketWatch, M Stettner, January 18, 2024. 

Penn LDI features Courtney Boen's research, which illuminates the health consequences of a Racialized Society and explores potential strategies for mitigation. 

Citations:

"How Racism “Gets Under the Skin” and Prematurely Ages Black People." Penn LDI, C Tachibana & H Levins, January 17, 2024. 

"Biological Age vs. Chronological Age: The Racial Health Disparities." Youtube, LDIvideo. 

C Boen, et al. “Patterns and Life Course Determinants of Black-White Disparities in Biological Age Acceleration: A Decomposition Analysis,” Demography. 

C Boen, et al. "Death by a Thousand Cuts: Stress Exposure and Black–White Disparities in Physiological Functioning in Late Life," Oxford Journals. 

Annenberg School for Communication highlights a new report by Dolores Albarracín on identifying effective ways to halt the spread of misinformation online, including debunking and “prebunking".

Citations:

"Eight Ways To Prevent and Fight Health Misinformation, Backed by Psychological Science." Annenberg School for Communication, H Reissman, January 15, 2024. 

Penn LDI highlights Dolores Albarracín shedding light on a new factor in understanding how people think of climate change: exposure to record-breaking heat.

Citations:

"Navigating Climate Perceptions Through Communication Strategies." Penn LDI, M Bolas, Januray 11, 2024.

D Albarracin, et al. "Record-Breaking Heat Days Disproportionately Influence Heat Perceptions," Scientific Reports. 

Research Associate Hans-Peter Kohler co-authors a paper along with Alberto Ciancio, Fabrice Kampfen, and Rebecca Thornton. 

Abstract: Providing personal health information allows individuals to take action to improve their health. If treatment is not available, however, being informed about having a life-threatening disease could lead to feelings of despair or fatalistic behaviors resulting in negative health outcomes. We document this possibility utilizing an experiment in Malawi that randomized incentives to learn HIV testing results in a context where anti-retroviral treatment (ART) was not yet available. Six years after the experiment, receiving an HIV+ diagnosis reduced survival rates by 23% points and this effect persists after 15 years. We show that HIV+ persons who learned they were HIV+ engaged in more risky health behaviors, have greater anxiety and a higher discount rate. We do not find any effects of receiving an HIV - diagnosis on survival.

Ciancio, Alberto, Fabrice Kämpfen, Hans-Peter Kohler, and Rebecca Thornton. 2024. “Surviving Bad News: Health Information without Treatment Options.” University of Pennsylvania Population Center Working Paper (PSC/PARC).

Knowledge at Wharton highlights Olivia Mitchell's study making a case for deferred income annuities with some equity exposure in defined contribution plans.

Citations:

"Why Retirement Gets Better With Annuities." Knowledge at Wharton, S Parameshwaran, January 9, 2024. 

O S Mitchell, et al. “Fixed and Variable Longevity Annuities in Defined Contribution Plans: Optimal Retirement Portfolios Taking Social Security into Account,” Wharton Pension Research Council. 

The New York Times features research associate Dennis Culhane for his study on modern homelessness. 

Citations:

"Can a Big Village Full of Tiny Homes Ease Homelessness in Austin?" The New York Times, L Tompkins, January 9, 2024. 

Penn LDI highlights health policy research blogs featuring PARC and PSC associates. 

Citations:

"LDI Research Blogs That Caught Your Attention in 2023." Penn LDI, K Kamara & M Bolas, January 3, 2024. 

Penn LDI showcases attention-grabbing news articles that spotlight some of the PARC and PSC research associates. 

Citations:

"LDI News That Caught Your Attention in 2023." Penn LDI, H Levins, January 3, 2024. 

Responding to the release of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress that cited a “record level” of homelessness, Penn LDI highlights Dennis Culhane pointing out to the New York Times that the “record” “is partly a manufactured problem.”

Citations:

"Homelessness Across U.S. Hit Record Level in 2023." Penn LDI, H Levins, January 3, 2024.