Name of the Project
Effects of scarcity on decision making
Director
Soraya Román, PhD
Contact: sorayaroman@upb.edu
Summary
In this study, we replicate Shah et al (2012)’s experiment on the consequences of scarcity on people's behavior. Through 5 games, Shah et. al. (2012) show that (1) having fewer resources increases concentration in the solution of urgent problems, but (2) reduces attention to other important problems. This helps explain apparently irrational behaviors of over-borrowing among the poor, but also behaviors of people with limited time endowments.
The study aims to extend the work of Shah et. al. (2012) in two dimensions: (1) confirm the validity of their findings in the Bolivian context using a sample of UPB undergraduate students, (2) explore heterogeneous effects associated with intertemporal preferences, previous experiences of scarcity and neuroticism.