Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Scarcity  By  cover art

Scarcity

By: Sendhil Mullainathan,Eldar Shafir
Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $14.96

Buy for $14.96

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

In the blockbuster tradition of Freakonomics, a Harvard economist and a Princeton psychology professor team up to offer a surprising and empowering new way to look at everyday life, presenting a paradigm-challenging examination of how scarcity - and our flawed responses to it - shapes our lives, our society, and our culture.

Why do successful people get things done at the last minute? Why does poverty persist? Why do organizations get stuck firefighting? Why do the lonely find it hard to make friends? These questions seem unconnected, yet Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir show that they are all are examples of a mindset produced by scarcity.

Drawing on cutting-edge research from behavioral science and economics, Mullainathan and Shafir show that scarcity creates a similar 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 sugarcane farmers are smarter after harvest than before.

Once we start thinking in terms of scarcity and the strategies it imposes, the problems of modern life come into sharper focus.

©2013 Ellen Hopkins (P)2013 Simon & Schuster

What listeners say about Scarcity

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    655
  • 4 Stars
    254
  • 3 Stars
    95
  • 2 Stars
    34
  • 1 Stars
    15
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    583
  • 4 Stars
    195
  • 3 Stars
    67
  • 2 Stars
    17
  • 1 Stars
    8
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    518
  • 4 Stars
    223
  • 3 Stars
    84
  • 2 Stars
    30
  • 1 Stars
    12

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Super interesting. Time to start saving money.

Love it. While lots of people complain about the weak economy, high employment rate, and too many people drawing welfare, they don't put themselves into a situation where scarcity, tunneling are hurting those poor people. This book provided a unique perspective on tackling social problem, public administration, business issues. Strongly recommended to friends and family. Much betyer than reading celebrity's biography.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

All theory

While the authors did their research they fail to offer practical advice to make the learnings relevant.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

thought provoking and applicable to everyday life.

This book made me think about my life and about the people around me in a different way. As a clinical psychologist, it made me think differently about my clients and address their problems according to the scarcity psychology. highly recommended

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

now I understand me

helped me to understand my own habits and why I have them. Very insightful, made me want to change.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed this book, very useful life skill

Would you listen to Scarcity again? Why?

This covered different kinds of scarcity including time. It had actual studies about how people behaved differently when they perceived they had a scarcity in an area as well as how they didn't plan well when perceived surplus.

What did you like best about this story?

The examples and how humans make different decisions and often bad decisions when perceiving scarcity/surplus.

Have you listened to any of Robert Petkoff’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No. I really enjoyed this performance.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

How decisions are affected with perceived scarcity.

Any additional comments?

Great job. Wealth of info. I can use this in my life.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Totally paradigm-changing

I loved Robert Petkoff's narration, but more than that the content of this book gave me a new model to apply to many things. I've been exploring it in my blog, in my journal, and in my life, and I found their humility engaging as they explored this "new" idea of scarcity. Highly recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

solid, thoughtful, accessible, interdisciplinary

What did you love best about Scarcity?

The combination of scholarship with anecdote makes for a work which is entertaining as well as informative.The construct of scarcity is an emergent from the collaboration of two smart minds in the developing field of behavioral economics. It matters. This is one I will likely share with my students and my family

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

8 hrs of fluff for 8 minutes of substance

Synopsis: Being rich creates less scarcity and a better life than being poor. That's it! I was really excited about this book but I lost interest pretty quick The first 10 chapters, or literally a majority of the book, use random world stories to inevitably revert back to financial scarcity. It was really annoying! Rich people have less stress, more time. less constraints. more freedom. better health, and longer lives. So choose to be rich and your life will be easier. Maybe start by saving money by leaving this book for the poor guy.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Well-written and extremely interesting

I enjoyed this entire book. The authors do a great job explaining economic concepts for a lay audience. While there are some political implications to their theories and they do suggest som policy approaches, they do a good job of not getting lost in the tall weeds of politics outside of a social science tool. As for content, I wondered at times if there is a component of applying new terminology to some standard economic principles. But, they present historical and new data from empirical studies that are very impressive to me as not being classically trained in the science of economics (aka, the study of scarcity).

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A must read that I will read again and share

This book is very informative and holds useful information for everyone, literally. From the rich to the poor, highly educated to the uneducated, the information in this tool should be in every home, degree program, social service provider and boardroom.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful