Business Daily Why 'scarcity mindset' still persists in India
7 snips
Feb 24, 2026 
Matali Nikore, an economist in Delhi, links scarcity thinking to high savings and low SME investment. Meeta Gupta, founder of Moola for Women, shares how scarcity shaped her personal financial choices. Eldar Shafir, Princeton psychology professor, explains how scarcity steals mental bandwidth and influences behaviour. They discuss marketing, risk aversion, policy responses and simple steps toward financial clarity.
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Childhood Scarcity Shaping Adult Eating Habits
- Pali grew up fetching water and living without electricity, which pushed him to study hard and later earn a stable income as an IT consultant.
- Despite that success, he still overeats when food is available because his childhood scarcity left a persistent subconscious fear of not having enough.
Scarcity Shrinks Mental Bandwidth And Cognitive Performance
- Eldar Shafir found scarcity reduces cognitive performance because mental bandwidth is consumed by worrying about insufficient resources.
- His farmer study in southern India showed people performed worse cognitively before harvest than after, when money was scarce versus plentiful.
Shoe Scarcity Turned Into Lifelong Hoarding
- Asta struggled to find large shoe sizes as a child and began hoarding any pair that fit, buying multiples of the same heel.
- That practical scarcity turned into emotional scarcity and occasional overspending to compensate for perceived lack.