If you have read the classic book "Scarcity", you will be familiar with this topic. The world-renowned authorities on scarcity theory, Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir, provide a deep explanation of the root causes of poverty and busyness.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, they use a large number of experimental studies to prove that there is no fundamental difference in intelligence and emotional intelligence between the poor and the rich, and they are not inferior in terms of diligence and perseverance. So why can't they escape from poverty?
01 Scarcity leads to tunnel vision
The most important reason is that poor people and busy people have a scarcity mentality, which leads to the production of tunnel vision.
02 Scarcity occupies bandwidth
Many times, what we consider reasonable may not necessarily be correct. For example, it is commonly believed that using a mobile phone while driving can affect traffic safety. However, scientists have conducted experiments and found that even if you don't hold a phone and use Bluetooth to make a call, the probability of a traffic accident is the same.
What does this experiment tell us? The key issue is not about holding or not holding the phone. It is about our brain being occupied. As long as there is a conversation, it will occupy the bandwidth of our brain and affect our attention.
03 Scarcity leads to trade-offs
Scarcity also tends to create trade-off burdens. For example, if you need to travel and you have a large suitcase, you are lucky because you can not only put necessary items in it but also clothes and small items that you like. But if your suitcase is small and can't even fit the necessary items, then a trade-off problem arises.
"Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much" is a book published by Zhejiang People's Publishing House in 2014, written by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir, translated by Wei Wei and Long Zhiyong.
Introduction#
In the process of long-term research on the poor and poverty alleviation, Sendhil Mullainathan, a lifelong professor at Harvard University and recipient of the MacArthur Genius Award, discovered that his anxiety is similar to that of the poor: the poor lack money, and he lacks time. Based on this phenomenon, he conducted a large number of laboratory studies and real-world investigations with Eldar Shafir, a psychology professor at Princeton University. They discovered a surprising truth that exists among people: the poor will always lack money, and busy people will always lack time.
However, further research has shown that these are all surface phenomena. Even if you give money to the poor or give procrastinators more time, they cannot become rich and efficient. In fact, in the long-term scarcity of resources (money, time), people have formed a "tunnel vision" and can only see what is inside the "tunnel". Although this may bring us "focus dividends" (short-term wealth or efficiency), in the long run, this "single-mindedness" will lead to "trade-off thinking" and constantly increase our bandwidth burden. When the value of 1 yuan differs greatly between the poor and the rich, when street vendors in Chennai, India are trapped in endless borrowing pressure, when everyone is in a state of multitasking "juggling"... the most rational economic models and behaviors will no longer conform to their own internal logic. In the end, scarcity captures our brains, gradually making us lose cognitive ability and executive control, and becoming more foolish and impulsive.
This book aims to reveal the various complex causes of the scarcity mentality and propose a response method to restrain scarcity with "leisure". Only by reasonably planning and managing our "bandwidth" can we move from scarcity to abundance.
This book is another heavyweight work in behavioral economics after Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow" and one of the top ten must-read business books of 2013 recommended by the Financial Times.
About the Authors#
Sendhil Mullainathan is a lifelong professor at Harvard University and an important leader in the field of behavioral economics at Harvard University. He co-founded the non-profit organization ideas42 with Eldar Shafir, a psychology professor at Princeton University, and is committed to using behavioral science to help solve social problems. At MIT, he co-founded the "Poverty Action Lab" with Abhijit Banerjee, the author of "Poor Economics," and won the MacArthur Genius Award in 2002.
Eldar Shafir received his Ph.D. in cognitive science from MIT in 1988. He is a recipient of the Guggenheim Award. He is a psychology professor at Princeton University and his research areas include cognitive science, judgment and decision-making, and behavioral economics. He has conducted research on "money illusion" with Nobel laureate Peter Diamond and renowned psychologist Amos Tversky.
Resources#
Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much
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