Author

One cost, for the lonely: If you want to be interesting, the one thing you shouldn't do is really focus on the fact that 'I want this person to like me.' That's going to make you very uninteresting. But the lonely, they just can't help but focus on that.

From Sendhil Mullainathan

There's a popular image of people who don't save for the future as lacking in self-control. But the reason saving is so hard has less to do with self-control and more to do with a scarcity of attention.

From Sendhil Mullainathan

If you have urgent current expenses to cover, then future priorities like college and retirement fall off your radar because they are simply less pressing. Scarcity of attention prevents us from seeing what's really important. The psychology of scarcity engrosses us in only our present needs.

From Sendhil Mullainathan

The ability to save automatically is among the most powerful tools available to us.

From Sendhil Mullainathan

It is safe to say that when people are short on cash, they might be less productive at work, be worse parents, and have less self-control.

From Sendhil Mullainathan

Economists specialize in pointing out unpleasant trade-offs - a skill that is on full display in the health care debate. We want patients to receive the best care available. We also want consumers to pay less. And we don't want to bankrupt the government or private insurers. Something must give.

From Sendhil Mullainathan

A few drugs - such as beta-blockers, statins and glycogen control medications - have proved very effective at managing hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and strokes. Most insurance plans charge something for them. Why not make drugs like these free? Not for everyone, but just the groups for whom they are provably effective.

From Sendhil Mullainathan

I worry about growing income inequality. But I worry even more that the discussion is too narrowly focused. I worry that our outrage at the top 1 percent is distracting us from the problem that we should really care about: how to create opportunities and ensure a reasonable standard of living for the bottom 20 percent.

From Sendhil Mullainathan

Our outrage at inequality is primal. But primal emotions are not always noble ones. Of course, when I see a colleague receive some award, I covet it. But this is not me at my best, and these are not the feelings we would instill and promote in our children.

From Sendhil Mullainathan

We should try to ensure that everyone has a fair opportunity to find a great life. It's a quest that will require political will and ingenious policies. President Obama's proposed expansion of the earned-income tax credit goes in this direction, but we need more.

From Sendhil Mullainathan

Sendhil Mullainathan

Notable Quotes

Authors with Similar Views

Jean Chatzky

Suze Orman

Alex Gibney

Ann Cotton

Anne Wojcicki

Authors with Opposing Views

Amy Sedaris

Ari Fleischer

Bipasha Basu

Christopher Guest

Cyndi Lauper