Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much Kindle Edition

The authors' basic point seems to be that scarcity of time or money leads to diminished "bandwidth" (ability of the mind to hold information in the forefront of consciousness) and therefore "tunneling," (the intense focus on what is most immediate or important and the neglect of other issues). The authors' tone is engaging with lots of anecdotes and jokes (presumably to appeal to their undergrad students) and their thesis is supported by the usual hit parade of social science research dealing with decision making. It is hard to know how valid a lot of this research really is and whether you are persuaded by the authors will probably depend on your views going in. One of the authors' main points is that some of poverty is a function of reduced ability to concentrate because of the stress of life. But whether this is a major factor is unaddressed. The authors' recommendations that they believe follow from their conclusions are haphazard and leave the reader shrugging his shoulders. The book only takes a couple of hours to read but whether that time was well spent was to me, now having finished the book, unclear.

This book by behavioral economist Sendhil Mullainathan and psychologist Eldar Shafir explains the cognitive difficulties people encounter when faced with managing a crucial scarce resource (e.g. money, time). The authors argue that scarcity creates a mindset that results in myopia and adversely affects fluid intelligence, resulting in flawed decisions concerning matters related and unrelated to the scarce resource. Scarcity results in temporary cognitive impairment that makes people focus on the immediate pressures of scarcity at the expense of long-range planning. For example, a cash-strapped person might take out a high-interest payday loan to relieve scarcity in the present moment, only to find cash-scarcity is even worse later on. A busy executive under time pressure may "borrow" time from future projects (by delaying them) only to find the time pressure increasing in the long run. Scarcity becomes a causal loop...scarcity breeds scarcity. The authors refer to this self-defeating behavior as the "scarcity trap." The poor stay poor, the busy stay busy. Furthermore, cognitive functioning necessary for all other decisions, where scarcity is not a factor, is compromised.

A common criticism of this book is that the authors are frequently making elaborate demonstrations of the obvious. While the observation is fair to some extent, the circular-causation theory of perpetual scarcity presented in the work is intriguing and fills out our understanding self-perpetuating scarcity, espcially with respect to money. I've usually been a little skeptical of the usefulness/relevance of finding of behavioral economics, but I find this work to be an exceptional case; I gladly recommend it.

Does having too little money affect your life? Of course, it does. I started reading this book more out of curiosity as to what the authors could possibly say beyond that poverty affects your lifestyle adversely.

This truly worthwhile book goes way beyond financial poverty and beyond the superficial effects of not having enough money to pay your bills.

Scarcity comes in many forms - money scarcity, time scarcity, companion scarcity, calorie scarcity, sleep scarcity, and on. Scarcity can make us more effective and less effective. Either way it affects our functioning in profound ways.

When you have a deadline, something happens to your brain that does not happen when you do not. The deadline forces you to choose to complete the report over browsing the internet or playing with your new puppy. The intense focus you have is a function of time scarcity, and ignoring distraction is not a choice.

Self-imposed deadlines come with a different level of choice; you can always decide not to observe self-imposed deadlines in favour of browsing, or the puppy.

In studies of business meetings, Connie Gersick observed that the first half of meetings is diffuse. Much of the conversation strays off the topic. The second half of the meeting nearly always produces more progress as the group realises they are running out of time.

A study of the effects of location was undertaken on a New Haven school situated next to a noisy railway line. It revealed that only one side of the school was affected by the noise. 6th graders whose classes were on the noisy side where academically behind the students on the quiet side - by a full year!

That interruption affects cognitive ability is no surprise, but how severely it does, is shocking.

In a recent study, students were asked to come to the laboratory around lunchtime not having eaten for four hours. Half the group was served lunch, and the other half told to begin the experimental work.

Words were flashed on a screen for one third of a second and then students were asked to identify the word they saw. Was it ‘rake’ or ‘take’. One might expect the hungry students to perform more poorly, but that was not the case. They did as well as the satiated students. However, they did better on words related to food.

In this case of calorie scarcity and in others cases of scarcity, brain functioning was affected at a level beyond conscious awareness.

Even theoretical decision-making is affected by scarcity. People in different economic strata were give this problem to solve: Your mechanic informs you that your car requires a repair that will cost $300 half of which will be covered by your auto insurance. You can still drive the car, but eventually the effect will necessitate a much more expensive repair.

Both those subjects coming from a lower and an upper economic group said they would do the immediate repair. The sensible decision.

However, when the sum involved was changed to $3000 the reactions of the different economic strata was stark. Those in the upper economic groups said they would repair now to avoid the higher cost later. Those in the lower economic groups said they would wait to repair the vehicle.

The salient point is that this was a hypothetical question – it was not their car and not their money. They may not even have owned a car!

Experiencing money scarcity would mean they had monetary issues close to top of mind. Once the experimenters stimulated that part of the brain, the all-too-real non-hypothetical thinking about scarcity came to the fore. Coming up with $ 1,500 was beyond them, the credit card was exhausted.. The minimum payment due is so large they would not be able to meet even that this month. Whom can they borrow from to this time?

A little stimulation raises a racket in their brains, and this racket affected their performance on a hypothetical problem! This is little different to the debilitating effect of a noisy train outside of a classroom.

The better off had no such stimulation, and so they could answer the hypothetical question more reasonably. The poor answered the question unreasonably. One could conclude that they were less intelligent or less capable of rational thought.

The waiter brings you a still water when you asked for a sparkling water. Is he concerned about his mother or his rent at a level that is pre-conscious? What does that do to a student writing an exam? Is it scarcity that is distracting and causing the poor performance and not the lack of intelligence or diligence?

The implications of scarcity go far beyond what I had thought. Therein lies the value of this book. It will make you think about the impact of various types of scarcity in ways you probably have never thought about before.

Readability Light --+-- Serious
Insights High -+--- Low
Practical High -+--- Low

Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy

I went looking for this book after hearing the podcast Tunnel Vision on Hidden Brain which presented such an illustrative case for the theories presented in the book. Scarcity presents compelling arguments that could change the way societies perceive and address issues of poverty, debt and support programs. I have already heard people incorporating the authors' perspective in public discourse. Their ideas have also had a profound effect on me personally, on how I think about money problems and time management and on my emotional reactions to these universal challenges. I certainly recognize tunnel vision in my choices and have been learning to check outside the tunnel from time to time and use a wider lens when choosing priorities. If you're struggling with time or money management or judging those who are, you will find new ways of thinking about these issues in this book. My new motto: In abundance lie the seeds of scarcity.