Rational economics doesn’t always govern how we make decisions about our money in the real world. As part of our series Brain Drain with Marketplace’s Wealth and Poverty desk, we’re exploring the ways in which our minds are rigged to cost us money. 

The fifth topic in our series: childhood environments.

For the past 40 years, researchers with the Minnesota Longitudinal Project have been collecting data on 170 individuals. The study started when participants were in the womb. Now, professors like Vlad Griskevicius and Jeff Simpson at the University of Minnesota are using the data to understand how early childhood environments contribute to success later in life.

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