Combining economics and compassion to learn about life in developing countries

Reshmaan Hussam ’09, PhD ’15, aspired to be a “psychohistorian” as a protagonist in the books of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation that combined human studies, history, and statistics to save the world. Alternatively, he thinks, such a psychologist is able to understand the tragic and traumatic diversity that characterizes him as a child in the cities of Virginia and visits his parents’ families in Bangladesh. He vividly remembers the self-pity and frustration he felt while driving in Dhaka with his family, seeing naked children painting on the window, begging for food and money. After realizing the economics of development, focusing on human performance and experimental stability, the field felt as close to Asimov’s ideas as possible.

When he was the first economist at MIT, Hussam strengthened his natural interest in generous arts and mathematical skills, experimental design, and data analysis. He studied with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, PhD ’99, Nobel laureate Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), who taught him finance and later became his medical advisor. “There’s a lot of money you can take around the world,” recalls Banerjee. “You don’t have to make a million dollars; look for small amounts of money. ”

Hussam tied him up on his MIT papers around the change: hand washing in West Bengal. Millions of dollars had already been spent on public medical services by hand washing, with no display. As a result, people are skeptical of Hussam’s idea of ​​making a simple, wood-based soap, filling it with spray soap as an alternative to washing and cleaning bars, placing it in public places, and using the same to encourage families to have the practice of hand washing.

But it worked. Simply giving families cheap and affordable soap brings benefits to children: within a few months, those living in retail homes are taller and heavier than those who do not. Another secret, he said, was “to delight children in participation, which in turn could be passed on to parents.”

Hussam sees the results as a “kind and careful way of thinking about how healthy people in developing countries make health decisions.” This compassionate approach is the one that coordinates its activities – including its recent research into the meaning of work for Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar to escape violence.

After joining the Harvard Business School in 2017, Hussam spent four years working with colleagues on various fundraising projects and working for refugees in Bangladesh camps. Traditionally, they say, camps are places of great admiration. Even when the NGO staff prepares the dishes or the treats, they do not attend. While some may think the behavior is lazy, “what we found to be no, they are willing to work,” says Hussam. “Working, in contrast to doing things, seems to give you a sense of purpose.”

In the experiment, Hussam and his colleagues hired one team to carry out a two-month research project. The second group received the same salary without any work. And the third control group received a little less in exchange for a brief survey. In a male study, “we found that just money – which is too much because of their lack – does not contribute to mental illness,” he says. Instead, the key was work. Men earning a living from work were less stressed and less stressed and said that 22% of suicidal days were those who did not work. Women, they say, have seen a steady flow of money from jobs and jobs – seemingly aided by independence in any financial contributions they make.

In the end, “even though they are poor, material things alone will not be enough if people are in a state of mental or emotional anguish,” concludes Hussam. Any helpful effort should come from a dignified environment and share personality. He believes his work will benefit millions of people caught up in the refugee crisis around the world – people who have lost “a place to call home, people they can connect with, and a way or a goal.”