Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much - Sendhil Mullainathan

Recognizing that economic mobility is becoming a shrinking reality, Sendhil Mullainathan discusses his book, "Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much", which provides a new way of understanding why poverty persists and how individuals and policymakers can better manage scarcity for greater success and financial well-being.

Mullainathan is a professor of economics at Harvard University.

This discussion at the Aspen Institute is moderated by Lisa Mensah, founder & director of the Aspen Institute Initiative on Financial Security.

[efortune]

-1:02:05
“It’s just easy to see someone make a mistake and attribute it to an internal failure. Instead of the fact that it’s the actual circumstances that are generating it.”
~ Sendhil Mullainathan,
Professor of Computation and Behavioral Science, and George C. Tiao Faculty Fellow at Chicago Booth, co-author of “Scarcity: Why Having too Little Means so Much”


Q&A

1:08:13 “I’m wondering if we just waved a magic wand and got rid of scarcity, whatever that means, and created a new floor would we have just moved scarcity up?”

[daniqueakkerman]

About the dieting: weight watchers vs. gluten free. This is not just calculation, it is a strict rule: you do not think about whether or not you are allowed, you know if you are or not. It is still a decision that has to be made every time you are exposed to food. If you take out this decision making, and have strict rules, or guidelines to what to eat, it should not be that different from a gluten free diet. I guess. I did not read the researches, but making implementation intentions would help with this problem (dieting, financial decisions, maybe even time).

[bennguyen]

On the Choiceology podcast, Sendhil mentions that when anyone is a poverty mind-frame, they tend to be much more careful (and accurate), but tend to make less rational decisions as a result.. like driving an hour away to save $5. So how do you know when to think scarcity/hyper-focused, vs when to think abundance?

[efortune]

Automation was mentioned.  And scarcity of time and access to meet one's needs was a major part of the talk.  However, has anyone considered that we can actually use automation, robotics, computers, algorithms etc to to many of the "jobs" we have today?  Automate everything that can be automated and institute an Unconditional Basic Income or lower work hours continuously while adjusting wages as our automated technologies advance and become more and more productive.  We are moving towards a world where we are highly productive and just don't need as many people to work.  Why not share the wealth of technology?  

See Andrew McAfee's TED Talks on Technological Unemployment for more.  Or the new documentary "Will Work for Free"

[CARIB]

I just read his book. I enjoyed it but I have concerns that it will be used against the poor or low income people because "their bandwidth is taxed due to scarcity"

[BarriBarac]

1 person in suffering from scarcity of likes.

[Limposium]

1:06:30 I thought he was talking about psychopaths...