Psychologists focus on scarcity as a perception that what we want is in short supply or otherwise difficult to obtain. Because we cannot easily obtain good things, that quest preoccupies us.

In their book Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, behavioral scientists Eldar Shafir and Sendhil Mullainathan studied feelings of scarcity in poor people from different countries. When people cannot meet their basic needs, such as food and safety, that lack becomes central to their thinking.【T1】Because they do not have the resources to acquire the good in question and to move out of poverty, they engage in practices that richer people see as “irrational.”

As the authors stress, the rest of us aren’t so different from poorer people. We, too, can be preoccupied with what we don’t have and adopt irrational strategies to obtain these things.【T2】The difference, of course, is that most of us have resource systems sufficient to meet our most basic needs.

【T3】Any of us can be obsessed with what we don’t have, even if it’s things we don’t really need. In fairness, denial, and the frustration that attends this, can motivate serious, long-term strategies to reach one’s goal. That means making decisions about time, money, and other resources. We can “ invest” in the world we want to live in. True enough. But we must admit that such investment is much easier for those who already operate from a platform of social and economic stability.

The commitment to have what others in our reference groups value is part of our social nature. More precisely, it is a manifestation of our search for identity. Who doesn’t want to belong to a group of their choosing—and, in so doing, to take on its beliefs, standards, and forms of possession?【T4】 Firmly rooted in that group, most of us want to rise within it, to have a respected position and the resources that attend this. This condition is what our consumer culture exploits. Portraying life as a course or career, marketers show the path to advanced social standing, security, and well-being.

Scarcity is a very real problem for those who do not have access to the basic forms of sustenance and security. For the rest of us, many of the things we hunger for are essentially decorations for the self. Some can argue that the upcoming trip to Europe and fancy automobile are rightful fruits of their labors.【T5】But we should be honest that part of the pleasure is both the sense of privilege that the activity gives us and the satisfaction of pleasing our friends with our exploits. However, none of this lets us evade the question of what we should be doing with our lives and how we should best allocate our resources.

【T5】