{"id":769,"date":"2015-07-06T18:54:10","date_gmt":"2015-07-06T18:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anthrohealth.net\/blog\/?p=769"},"modified":"2015-07-06T18:54:10","modified_gmt":"2015-07-06T18:54:10","slug":"the-bandwidth-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anthrohealth.net\/blog\/the-bandwidth-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bandwidth Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" — The brain has limited bandwidth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Scarcity is the\u00a0limiting factor that can make life more difficult whether the\u00a0scarce resource is money, time, energy, etc. \u00a0It\u00a0becomes more difficult to make appropriate decisions when\u00a0the brain’s cognitive capacity is focused on that scarce resource. \u00a0Thinking of cognitive capacity as ‘bandwidth’ allows us to realize that there is only so much bandwidth available. \u00a0If we are already heavily using it, for instance, by trying to figure out how we will pay this month’s bills, there is little left over for other important decisions, such as planning how to save for a college education.<\/p>\n
This issue of scarcity and how it affects decision-making is taken on by authors Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir\u00a0in their book Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>A major point of the authors\u00a0is that scientific research has shown that scarcity actually reduces IQ:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>when scarcity pressure reduces bandwidth,\u00a0there is too much going on to effectively process all that needs to be done\u00a0or\u00a0decided.<\/p>\n
Mullainathan and Shafir devote a large portion of the book to discussing poverty and its relationship to scarcity and bandwidth reduction. \u00a0Many of those who are poor may appear to make unfortunate decisions. \u00a0It is not because they are incapable of making better choices, but because their cognitive bandwidth is over-taxed due to their inadequate resources. \u00a0In one experiment,\u00a0\u201cThe poor responded just like the rich when the car cost little to fix, when scarcity had not been rendered salient.\u00a0 Clearly, this is not about inherent cognitive capacity.\u00a0 Just like the processor that is slowed down by too many applications, the poor here appear<\/em>\u00a0[italics in original] worse because some of their bandwidth is being used elsewhere.\u201d \u00a0p. 52 \u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe would argue that the poor do have lower effective<\/em>\u00a0[italics in original] capacity than those who are well off. This is not because they are less capable, but rather because part of their mind is captured by scarcity.\u201d p. 60<\/p>\n
Poverty is a serious issue for the future since it affects the children. \u00a0\u201cNearly 50 percent of all children in the United States will at some point be on food stamps.\u00a0 About 15 percent of American households had trouble finding food for the family at some point during the year.\u201d p.147 \u00a0Not only are children going hungry, but their parents have trouble parenting due to reduced cognitive bandwidth. \u00a0\u201cBeing a good parent requires many things.\u00a0 But most of all it requires freedom of mind.\u00a0 That is one luxury the poor do not have.\u201d \u00a0p. 137 \u00a0How can children do well in school when their cognitive bandwidth is occupied with hunger and a chaotic home life? \u00a0\u00a0\u201cAn overtaxed bandwidth means a reduced ability to process new information\u2026Our data\u2026suggest that much of the correlation between income and classroom performance may be explained by the bandwidth tax\u2026 Absorbing new information requires working memory.\u201d p. 158<\/p>\n
Many of the poor are striving for \u00a0better lives for themselves and their children. \u00a0A college education is now considered a basic requirement for many jobs, but the cost of a college education has sky-rocketed at the same time as grants and scholarships have become more difficult to obtain and\/or cover less of the cost. \u00a0Students are then forced to go heavily into debt, work while taking classes, or both. \u00a0These students are experiencing scarcity of money and of time.\u00a0\u201c…the financially strapped student who misses some easy questions looks incapable or lazy.\u00a0 But these people are not unskilled or uncaring, just heavily taxed.\u00a0 The problem is not the person but the context of scarcity.\u201d p. 65<\/p>\n
Poverty will be a multi-generational trap that is impossible to escape if nothing is done to reduce the load on cognitive bandwidth. \u00a0The poor have to constantly re-certify to get food stamps and other government programs. But the neediest often fail to do so because of the bandwidth tax: they forget.\u00a0 This is a tax on poverty.\u00a0 \u201cTo see the logic of taxing bandwidth, think about it this way.\u00a0 Imagine we imposed a hefty financial charge to filling out applications for financial aid.\u00a0 We would quickly realize that this is a silly fee to impose; a program aimed at the cash stretched should not charge them much cash.\u00a0 Yet we frequently design programs aimed at people who are bandwidth-stretched that charge a lot in bandwidth.\u201d p. 222 \u00a0 \u201c\u2026the bandwidth tax was sizable: roughly thirteen to fourteen IQ points, with an equally large effect on executive control.\u00a0 These are \u2026 very large effects on cognitive function\u2026 the bandwidth tax plays a similarly large role in the lives of the poor everywhere.\u201d \u00a0p. 161-62<\/p>\n
Benefits to the poor, such as food stamps, should be paid weekly rather than in one lump sum at the beginning of month.\u00a0 This smooths out the boom\/bust cycle. \u00a0We need to \u201c\u2026create long periods of moderation rather than spurts of abundance followed by heightened periods of scarcity.\u201d \u00a0p. 223 \u00a0 \u201cThe failures of the poor are part and parcel of the misfortune of being poor in the first place.\u00a0 Under these conditions, we all would have (and have!) failed.\u201d p. 161<\/p>\n
There are a number of ways in which government and business could reduce the bandwidth tax on the poor. \u00a0If you are poor and have kids, having highly-subsidized day care frees up lots of bandwidth and makes life easier. \u201cWe\u2019d be taking a cognitive load off.\u00a0 As we\u2019ve seen, this would help your executive control, your self-control more broadly, even your parenting. It would increase your general cognitive capacity, your ability to focus, the quality of your work\u2026 [H]elp with child care\u2026is a way to build human capital of the deepest kind: it creates bandwidth.\u201d p. 176-77<\/p>\n
Jobs paying minimum wages require those with children to work two or more jobs in order to be able to pay the bills. \u00a0This situation is aggravated when these jobs do not provide consistent work schedules. \u00a0\u201cIn the United States, something as simple as inconsistent work hours\u2026can cause juggling and perpetuate scarcity.\u00a0 A solution would be to create the equivalent of unemployment insurance against such fluctuations in work hours, which to the poor can be even more pernicious than job loss.\u201d \u00a0p. 178<\/p>\n
In order to solve poverty, we must realize that simply having a job is inadequate. \u00a0\u201cNow, rather than looking at education, health, finance, and child care as separate problems, we must recognize that they all form part of a person\u2019s bandwidth capacity.\u00a0 And just as a financial tax can wreak havoc in one\u2019s budget, so can a bandwidth tax create failure in any of several domains to which a person must attend.\u201d p. 179-80 \u00a0\u00a0Social programs and employment structure need to be redesigned: \u201c\u2026a better design will have to incorporate fundamental insights about focusing and bandwidth that emerge from the psychology of scarcity.\u201d p. 181<\/p>\n
Our cognitive capacity bandwidth is limited. \u00a0If it is taxed by inadequate pay, inconsistent work schedules, lack of childcare, unhealthy and\/or insufficient diet, a polluted environment, inadequate social services and infrastructure, among many other scarce resources, it should not be surprising if the poor seem trapped in a cycle of poverty. \u00a0 Mullainathan and Shafir\u00a0have provided a method for reframing and solving this crisis. \u00a0Will we care enough to implement it?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n