Studies show that growing up below the poverty line can have serious health implications, but can it have a lasting effect on the brain? We continue NHPR’s series The First Decade with a look at how scarcity can hijack a person’s neural pathways in the brain. Eldar Shafir is Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University, where he studies human behavior and decision making in the context of poverty. He is co-author of the book Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much.
Listen to the interview
You can also listen to an excerpt of the book below.