Developing Hope Among Impoverished Children: Using Child Self-Portraits to Measure Poverty Program Impacts

Abstract

The role of psychological attributes such as hope in escaping poverty has attracted increasing attention. Crucial questions include the impact of early development of positive psychological attributes on socioeconomic outcomes, and whether interventions to reduce poverty increase such attributes. We examine the impact of international child sponsorship on the psychology of Indonesian children by employing a novel program evaluation technique—a quantified analysis of children’s self-portraits. To identify causal effects, we exploit an eligibility rule that established a maximum age for participation. We find that international sponsorship significantly raises sponsored children’s levels of happiness (0.42σ), self-efficacy (0.29σ), and hope (0.66σ).