Scarcity and health

"Scarcity captures the mind. Just as [people who are hungry can only think about food,] when we experience scarcity of any kind, we become absorbed by it. The mind orients automatically, powerfully, toward unfulfilled needs. For the hungry that need is food. For the busy it might be a project that needs to be finished. For the cash-strapped it might be this month's rent payment; for the lonely, a lack of companionship. Scarcity is more than just the displeasure of having very little. It changes how we think. It imposes itself on our minds . . . Scarcity is not just a physical constraint. It is also a mind-set. When scarcity captures our attention, it changes how we think. By staying top of mind, it affects what we notice, how we weigh our choices, how we deliberate, and ultimately what we decide and how we behave. When we function under scarcity, we represent, manage, and deal with problems differently."—Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir,Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much