Impact of Scarcity on Behavioral Conditions

Taking a look into one of the three articles “Some Consequences of Having too Little,” written and studied by Anuj K. Shah, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Eldar Shafir, people often faced with too little tend to borrow excessively and focus on the present rather than the future (Shah, Mullainathan and Shafir 682). In order to test this hypothesis, the writers have conducted 5 experiments to show how scarcity affects behavioral, environmental and psychological conditions that re-inforce poverty (Shah, Mullainathan and Shafir 682). These studies also prove that having less requires more attention on tasks at hand while neglecting other tasks that seem not so pressing (Shah, Mullainathan and Shafir 682). For example, I know a lady named Marci. Marci depends on her food stamps each month to feed

Every month she goes to the store and stocks up on perishable items such as fruits, veggies and meats to accommodate her nonperishables she already has at home. Focused on groceries for her household Marci neglects her light bill, which results in the refrigerator turning off. Inevitably all the meats and other perishable items spoil and go bad. All the months’ food she just bought at the store are now gone. Marci’s main concern to feed her family rose above the light bill that she neglected from having scarce resources, resulting in poor decision making.

To scientifically support this example, the writers conducted 2 experiments that created an increase of focus on a particular task (Shah, Mullainathan and Shafir 683). In experiment 1, they rounded 60 individuals to play the well-known game of “Wheel of Fortune” (Shah, Mullainathan and Shafir 683). The “poor” participants had