Scarcity - Sendhil Mullainathan & Eldar Shafir

I continue to come back to this book as one that informs my thoughts about many scenarios, especially when I'm faulting someone for a decision I think is a bad one. Scarcity makes a great case, though not explicitly, for universal basic income, because if we can take away monetary scarcity from people they have the capacity to make better decisions that will benefit society.

I think this is a must read.

Read my longer review of Scarcity.

Purchase Scarcity on Amazon

# scarcity is having less than you feel you need 180920201044

Scarcity 180920201044

- scarcity is defined as having less than you feel you need Page 4
- funny because I often "feel" like I need more than I do. More sex, more food, more...At what point is it enough?




Scarcity 180920201044

> Scarcity captures the mind. Just as the starving subjects had food on their mind, when we experience scarcity of any kind, we become absorbed by it. The mind orients automatically powerfully, toward unfulfilled needs. Page 7



# scarcity offers narrow benefit 180920201047

Scarcity 180920201044

> Scarcity captures our attention, and this provides a narrow benefit: we do a better job of managing pressing needs. But more broadly, it costs us: we neglect other concerns and we become less effective in the rest of life. Page 14-15

- in When they talked about teams only doing the work once they were near the end of the deadline



# we are more productive after the midpoint in a projcet 180920201053

Scarcity 180920201044

- after the midpoint in a meeting or on a project deadline we suddenly get more productive.
- # scarcity offers narrow benefit 180920201047

Scarcity 180920201044

> Scarcity captures our attention, and this provides a narrow benefit: we do a better job of managing pressing needs. But more broadly, it costs us: we neglect other concerns and we become less effective in the rest of life. Page 14-15

- in When they talked about teams only doing the work once they were near the end of the deadline


- see When



# focus dividend 180920201054

Scarcity 180920201044

- the "focus dividend" is how deadlines and time scarcity are good and cause us to cut distractions so that we do what needs to be done Page 24



# we manage scarcity with tunneling 180920201057

Scarcity 180920201044

- "tunneling" is getting tunnel vision to focus on managing the scarcity. We block other concerns out. Page 29
- this is the opposite and negative to focus. We neglect things because of our tunnel vision.



# tunneling tax 180920201058

Scarcity 180920201044

- the tax is all the stuff we neglect when we are focused on our Scarcity. Page 31
- you focus on the scarce resource and it takes your bandwidth for other stuff. Money is tight, and you're not nice to your kids because you don't have that extra bandwidth Page 41
- when we tunnel in scarcity we also borrow from the future. Like paying bills with tax payments so that we can purchase something today. We're digging a future hole Page 106-108
- similar to constant low grade stress from Lab Rats which eats away at our focus and our ability to return to the thing we should be doing
- this is also a decent argument for univesal basic income
- # The War on Normal People 130920201110

Author: [[Andrew Yang]]
Notebook:
Review:

## Summary

lack of mobility and social ills 250920200906 {{lack of mobility and social ills [250920200906.md](http://250920200906.md)}}

tech jobs are totally different 250920200928 {{tech jobs are totally different [250920200928.md](http://250920200928.md)}}

GDP outpaces wages 250920200930 {{GDP outpaces wages [250920200930.md](http://250920200930.md)}}

people can't pay unexpected bills 250920200933 {{people can't pay unexpected bills [250920200933.md](http://250920200933.md)}}

mall closure is bad for the community 250920200935 {{mall closure is bad for the community [250920200935.md](http://250920200935.md)}}

routine jobs get replaced by ia 250920200938 {{routine jobs get replaced by ia [250920200938.md](http://250920200938.md)}}

the most human jobs pay nothing 250920200942 {{the most human jobs pay nothing [250920200942.md](http://250920200942.md)}}

the unemployment rate is a terrible success metric 250920200945 {{the unemployment rate is a terrible success metric [250920200945.md](http://250920200945.md)}}

meritocracy wasn't supposed to be a real thing 092520200948 {{meritocracy wasn't supposed to be a real thing [092520200948.md](http://092520200948.md)}}

how much money before income volatility stopped being a problem 092520200951 {{how much money before income volatility stopped being a problem [092520200951.md](http://092520200951.md)}}

having all the information from the internet hasn't made us smarter 250920200954 {{having all the information from the internet hasn't made us smarter [250920200954.md](http://250920200954.md)}}

marriage is an act of optimism 250920201003 {{marriage is an act of optimism [250920201003.md](http://250920201003.md)}}

virtually no one recovers from disability 250920201006 {{virtually no one recovers from disability [250920201006.md](http://250920201006.md)}}

video games are an inferior good 250920201008 {{video games are an inferior good [250920201008.md](http://250920201008.md)}}

- there are a bunch of studies showing the positive benefits of #basic-income on page 176 and later
- they all point towards the relief of the scarcity trap 180920201111 meaning people could be better at the rest of their life that wasn't occupied with getting by on money

basic income means we can look towards our second mountain 250920201013 {{basic income means we can look towards our second mountain [250920201013.md](http://250920201013.md)}}

poverty isn't a lack of character it's a lack of cash 250920201018 {{poverty isn't a lack of character it's a lack of cash [250920201018.md](http://250920201018.md)}}

time trade hours 250920201021 {{time trade hours [250920201021.md](http://250920201021.md)}}

## TODO

- [x] Human Centered Capitalism xviii
- [ ] The Great Displacement ch 2 for causes

## Tags

- Tags/meritocracy xix
- [[Tags/ai assistant]] 26
- Tags/mall closure 31
- Tags/anchor store 31
- Tags/ecommerce 33
- Tags/Amazon 33
- Tags/gig economy 35, 216
- Tags/job protection 60
- Tags/protectionism 60
- Tags/meritocracy 96, 98
- moral ecologies 99
- Scarcity 180920201044105
- Tags/misogyny 108
- structural versus institutional racism 108
- Tags/impulsivity 108
- Tags/impulse control 108
- [[Tags/tribalism]] 109
- Tags/white flight 116
- [[Tags/single-parent household]] 128
- Tags/inferior good 146
- universal basic income 165
- universal income 165
- Tags/gamification 192
- [[Tags/social good]] 195
- community 190-19?
- Tags/human centred capitalism 200
- job lock 216

## Resources Mentioned

- Excellent Sheep 090920200746 91
- Hillbilly Elegy 090920200757 97
- The Missing Men 100920201146 126
- Average is Over 100920201609 147
- Ages of Discord 100920201617 155
- Four Futures Life After Capitalism 100920201945 165
- Raising the Floor 100920201947 166
- The Wealth of Nations 130920200916 199
- Das Kapital 130920200917 199
- Rise of the Robots 130920200946 220



Scarcity 180920201044

- the cognitive load of money concerns has a bigger affect on fluid intelligence than a night of lost sleep Page 51
- some with the negative effect on executive control. We can't override an impulse in the moment so that we make the "correct" long term decision instead. Page 55, 56

# poverty



# scarcity forces trade-off thinking 18092020

Scarcity 180920201044

> Scarcity forces trade-off thinking. All those unmet needs capture our attention and become top of mind. When we are tight on cash, we are highly attentive to all the bills that must be paid. Page 22

- it's like packing a small suitcase, where we can't fit the basics even and we have to trade off things we must have
- scarcity is having no slack in the system. You can't add anything else because the system would break. This is trade-off thinking. Page 72



# frugality is not scarcity 180920201106

Scarcity 180920201044

> But frugality does not capture the experience of scarcity. The frugal have principled conscientiousness about money. The poor must be vigilant about trade-offs. Page 98

- poor don't see if the price is good, they look to see what they can't purchase because of the extra expense



# busy means messy 180920201109

Scarcity 180920201044 Page 117


> When we get very busy, our homes and offices become very messy. There is always something more pressing than keeping order, which is never truly urgent. Page 117

- that is until the mess is so bad and we have to make a huge investment to reset it to 0 again
- there is also a cost to daily searching for things instead of having it all clean and being able to find stuff

- this also ties into overwork and the messy desk quotient to show when you're overworked

# scarcity trap 180920201111

Scarcity 180920201044

- scarcity trap: when your own actions contribute to the scarcity continuing. Like not skipping a purchase to save and gain financial freedom in the future. Page 125
- or [[payday loans]]

poverty #tagnote



Scarcity 180920201044

> Juggling is why predictable events are treated like shocks. When you juggle, you tunnel in on the balls that are about to drop, and you neglect those high in the air. Page 128

- the legacy of juggling makes each decision harder as yu navigate the patchwork commitments you made to stop the balls from falling Page 129

# poverty



# poverty


Scarcity 180920201044

> One cannot take a vacation from poverty. Simply deciding not to be poor - even for a bit - is never an option. Page 148

- the rich can take a vacation to get away from time scarcity. They can take on less work or higher help to deal with their scarcity



Scarcity 180920201044

- if you build any program to help the poor make sure you also help address the overall bandwidth issues so they can use your program Page 181
- Like PAC and childcare
- or staggering starts of classes and if you miss a week you can join in next week at the same spot Page 171




Scarcity 180920201044

> A standard impulse when there is a lot to do is to pack tightly - as tightly as possible, to fit everything in. And when you are not tightly packed, there's a feeling that perhaps you aren't doing enough. Page 187

- but slack in your schedule for things that come up lets you get more done
- without slack you're stuck fighting the urgent problem and can't think long term Page 1932

[[busyness]]

# vigilance choices vs one-off 180920201125

Choices that need to be constantly made, like eating healthy with junk food in the house. One-off are those that you make once and then don't have to think about it. Page 214



# it's too easy to commit to things in the future 180920201126

Scarcity 180920201044

- it's easy to think that we'll have more time next month/week...when we wont. Page 214
- better, ask yourself if you'd say yes if the thing was next week. If the answer is no, then say no to that thing in 3 months.



# good decisions won't be made in the future 180920201128

Scarcity 180920201044

> Put simply, the truth about all those good decisions you plan to make sometimes in the future, when things are easier, is that you probably won't make them once that future rolls around and things are tough again. Page 215

# it's too easy to commit to things in the future 180920201126

Scarcity 180920201044

- it's easy to think that we'll have more time next month/week...when we wont. Page 214
- better, ask yourself if you'd say yes if the thing was next week. If the answer is no, then say no to that thing in 3 months.