The scarcity trap captures this notion we see again and again in many domains. When people have very little, they undertake behaviors that maintain or reinforce their future disadvantage. If you have very little, you often behave in such a… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
One cost, for the lonely: If you want to be interesting, the one thing you shouldn't do is really focus on the fact that… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
It's hard to get people to empathize with the poor. You can get some people to sympathize with the poor, but to empathize is… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Eat better or work out more, and youll see the benefits weeks, months or years down the road. Sleep more, and youll see the… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Marketing is selling an ad to a firm. So, in some sense, a lot of marketing is about convincing a CEO, 'This is a… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Organizations talk about spending their lives firefighting - dealing with the next problem without having the bandwidth to deal with what is down the… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Things that price at $4.99 sell very differently than things that price at $5. — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
People go shopping, we spend on so many things, and we just don't know. We don't know the prices of things. But gasoline, even… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
You can get pictures into what people are sort of thinking about others. Just go onto Google and type 'Why are Indians' and then… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
If women's choices - such as taking time off to rear children - make them less productive in the economy, does adolescent boys' behavior… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Policymakers think that if they get the abstractions right, that will drive behavior in the desired direction. But the world happens in real time. — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Faced with a time shortage, we squeeze tasks into the nooks and crannies of our calendar, leaving less and less time to switch between… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Busy people all make the same mistake: they assume they are short on time, which of course, they are. But time is not their… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
There's a popular image of people who don't save for the future as lacking in self-control. But the reason saving is so hard has… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Even when a man and a woman perform equally well in a task - say, solving math problems - men are more willing to… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Our outrage at inequality is primal. But primal emotions are not always noble ones. Of course, when I see a colleague receive some award,… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
