Sendhil Mullainathan
How Scarcity Fuels the Cycle of Poverty
Intro
Working at the crossroads of psychology, economics, and public policy, Sendhil Mullainathan has studied behavioral economics for the past three decades. His work seeks to find ways for governments, institutions, and individuals to turn research into action and make better decisions in times of public social crises. As behavioral scientists and decision professionals know, intention does not always equate to action, and when it comes to world issues like poverty, lapses in decision-making can have detrimental global effects. Named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and one of 50 people who will change the world by WIRED Magazine, Sendhil Mullainathan teaches us why poor people make poor decisions―not the other way around―and what we as a society can do to help them make better ones that will promote a better future for everyone.
Being poor, for example, reduces a person’s cognitive capacity more than going one full night without sleep. It is not that the poor have less bandwidth as individuals. Rather, it is that the experience of poverty reduces anyone’s bandwidth.
– Sendhil Mullainathan, Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much
About the Authors
Dan Pilat
Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.
Dr. Sekoul Krastev
Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.
