If you’d like to have more money, time, friends, or food, you’re more likely to experience a sense of scarcity. And the things you want are determined to a large extent by what people around you have. As Shafir says, “The growing inequality in the Western world is a major obstacle in this respect.” If lots of people are buying the latest smartphone, then you want one, too. As long as inequality continues to rise, the gross domestic mental bandwidth will continue to contract.
