Culture | The psychology of scarcity

Days late, dollars short

Those with too little have a lot on their mind

Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much. By Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir. Times Books; 288 pages; $28. Allen Lane; £20. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

THE authors of this book both study people for a living—often people who lack money. They may be vegetable sellers in Chennai, India, who borrow money at dawn and repay with exorbitant interest at dusk. Or they may be ill-paid office managers, like Shawn from Cleveland, Ohio, who lives from pay cheque to pay cheque, always finding that there is “more month than money”.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline "Days late, dollars short"

Hit him hard

From the August 31st 2013 edition

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