--- product_id: 1700404 title: "Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much" price: "£36.69" currency: GBP in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/1700404-scarcity-why-having-too-little-means-so-much store_origin: GB region: United Kingdom --- # Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much **Price:** £36.69 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much - **How much does it cost?** £36.69 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.uk](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/1700404-scarcity-why-having-too-little-means-so-much) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description In this provocative book based on cutting-edge research, Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir show that scarcity creates a distinct psychology for everyone struggling to manage with less than they need. Busy people fail to manage their time efficiently for the same reasons the poor and those maxed out on credit cards fail to manage their money. The dynamics of scarcity reveal why dieters find it hard to resist temptation, why students and busy executives mismanage their time, and why the same sugarcane farmers are smarter after harvest than before. Once we start thinking in terms of scarcity, the problems of modern life come into sharper focus, and Scarcity reveals not only how it leads us astray but also how individuals and organizations can better manage scarcity for greater satisfaction and success. Review: One of my favorite books of all time - I devoured this book when it came out, and when I wanted to go back to my notes and highlights, I had to read the whole book again because I had highlighted so much of it. I'm now on my third time through, and somehow it keeps getting better. The topic is fascinating (at least to me!), the writing is tight and pulls you along, and the research is solid and engaging. Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir are star academics who use their giant brains and their sweat to make the world a better place--and they are. The investigation of scarcity is more complex than you'd realize, and more interesting. Interesting that they draw compelling parallels between very different types of scarcity--money, time, food--and very different life situations--from poverty in the developing world to wealthy workaholics in the West, to teach you about the psychology of scarcity. It focuses a person's mind on what they haven't got. Which makes them able to do a few things more efficiently, but for the most part is a huge cognitive drain that makes it impossible to function at their best. Everyone in public office, no, really everyone, should read this beautiful book. Review: A peek into the mindset of people who face scarcity - Scarcity is a book that looks at how people think when faced with scarce resources (money, time, friends). They describe how the scarce mentality causes people to focus on what they lack while also causing people to "tunnel" and ignore other important aspects of their lives. Throughout the book, the authors look at various examples and studies that describe how people who lack time and money are mentally taxed due to their focus on what they lack. This tax, which the authors describe as a bandwidth tax (bandwidth being a catchall term describing our overall mental capacity) is one of the primary reasons the authors provide as to why an otherwise capable person would look incapable in the face of scarcity. The authors provide a good explanation of scarcity and its associated effects. They focus their explanations on people who lack money (people in poverty) and people who lack time (people who are busy), however, they also attempt to provide glimpses into how this scarcity mindset can be associated with people who lack friends (people who are lonely) and people who lack calories (people who are dieting). This is supposed to support the author's reasoning, but it reads as if the authors are trying to stretch their logic a bit. The authors also provide many anecdotes and studies to support their findings, but it makes the book feel as if it is low on overall content due to the authors continuously describing different experiments. Finally, the authors don't provide clear solutions on how to alter the scarcity mindset in the book (they readily admit that some of the solutions offered are not quite as simple as they seem), leaving the book to feel at least partially incomplete. Despite all of this, I still found the book to be a compelling (if short) read. Its not perfect, but it does provide valuable insight into the scarce mindset and a slight peek into what might be done to fix it. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #280,094 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #45 in Popular Applied Psychology #119 in Decision-Making & Problem Solving #397 in Business Decision Making | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,490 Reviews | ## Images ![Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61fj3aWw1iS.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ One of my favorite books of all time *by Z***E on January 15, 2020* I devoured this book when it came out, and when I wanted to go back to my notes and highlights, I had to read the whole book again because I had highlighted so much of it. I'm now on my third time through, and somehow it keeps getting better. The topic is fascinating (at least to me!), the writing is tight and pulls you along, and the research is solid and engaging. Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir are star academics who use their giant brains and their sweat to make the world a better place--and they are. The investigation of scarcity is more complex than you'd realize, and more interesting. Interesting that they draw compelling parallels between very different types of scarcity--money, time, food--and very different life situations--from poverty in the developing world to wealthy workaholics in the West, to teach you about the psychology of scarcity. It focuses a person's mind on what they haven't got. Which makes them able to do a few things more efficiently, but for the most part is a huge cognitive drain that makes it impossible to function at their best. Everyone in public office, no, really everyone, should read this beautiful book. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A peek into the mindset of people who face scarcity *by F***R on September 20, 2013* Scarcity is a book that looks at how people think when faced with scarce resources (money, time, friends). They describe how the scarce mentality causes people to focus on what they lack while also causing people to "tunnel" and ignore other important aspects of their lives. Throughout the book, the authors look at various examples and studies that describe how people who lack time and money are mentally taxed due to their focus on what they lack. This tax, which the authors describe as a bandwidth tax (bandwidth being a catchall term describing our overall mental capacity) is one of the primary reasons the authors provide as to why an otherwise capable person would look incapable in the face of scarcity. The authors provide a good explanation of scarcity and its associated effects. They focus their explanations on people who lack money (people in poverty) and people who lack time (people who are busy), however, they also attempt to provide glimpses into how this scarcity mindset can be associated with people who lack friends (people who are lonely) and people who lack calories (people who are dieting). This is supposed to support the author's reasoning, but it reads as if the authors are trying to stretch their logic a bit. The authors also provide many anecdotes and studies to support their findings, but it makes the book feel as if it is low on overall content due to the authors continuously describing different experiments. Finally, the authors don't provide clear solutions on how to alter the scarcity mindset in the book (they readily admit that some of the solutions offered are not quite as simple as they seem), leaving the book to feel at least partially incomplete. Despite all of this, I still found the book to be a compelling (if short) read. Its not perfect, but it does provide valuable insight into the scarce mindset and a slight peek into what might be done to fix it. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The body controls the mind *by B***B on August 21, 2015* The book is a summary of studies of how having too little of something effects behavior, whether it's time for the busy, food for the dieting, or money for the poor. It illustrates the previously considered intangible costs of being poor and really digs in. It explains the mentality of the individual and how 'tunneling' can create a measurable decrease in IQ, and how it's an uncontrollable biological response. It also discusses the lack of slack and how it makes any system susceptible to shocks. The insights are so general that it's even easy to apply to your personal life but certainly could be used to make policy more effective. For me, this took a well-known value of scholarship, "peace of mind", and makes it quantifiable. It demonstrates several fascinating tests that can be used to measure this. It would take a lot of work, but I think it would be even reasonable to say that you could test someone when you first meet them and test them again a few months after acceptance and get a metric of effectiveness. ## Frequently Bought Together - Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much - Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions - Nudge: The Final Edition --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/1700404-scarcity-why-having-too-little-means-so-much](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/1700404-scarcity-why-having-too-little-means-so-much) --- *Product available on Desertcart United Kingdom* *Store origin: GB* *Last updated: 2026-06-02*