High levels of anxiety and worry are actually linked to making way better economic decisions in daily life.
March 24, 2026
Original Paper
Does Anxiety Improve Economic Decision-Making?
arXiv · 2603.21874
The Takeaway
Contrary to the idea that stress impairs performance, data from consumer scanners shows that people in worried emotional states shop more efficiently and manage budgets better. This suggests anxiety increases focus and attentiveness to household factors within a person's immediate control.
From the abstract
We study the associations between everyday economic decision-making quality and people's emotional states. Using high-frequency, highly disaggregated consumer "scanner" data, we show that the cost of poor decision-making is substantial, on average equal to around half of day-to-day consumption budgets. While material circumstances help explain decision-making quality, how people feel about those circumstances is equally important. Contrary to evidence that stress and worry impair performance in