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An exercise in self-replication: Replicating Shah, Mullainathan, and Shafir (2012)

Author

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  • Shah, Anuj K.
  • Mullainathan, Sendhil
  • Shafir, Eldar

Abstract

Shah et al. (2012) examined how different forms of scarcity affect attention and borrowing behavior. Results from a series of lab experiments suggested that (1) various forms of scarcity have similar effects on cognition and behavior, (2) scarcity leads to attentional shifts and greater focus (3) scarcity can lead people to over-borrow, and (4) scarcity can lead to cognitive fatigue. Camerer (2018) recently conducted replications of studies from a set of social science papers, and failed to replicate the result on cognitive fatigue from Shah et al. (2012). In this paper, we present high-powered replications of all studies from Shah et al. (2012). We describe which results appear more robust and which results appear to be less robust. We conclude with some thoughts on the value of self-replications.

Suggested Citation

  • Shah, Anuj K. & Mullainathan, Sendhil & Shafir, Eldar, 2019. "An exercise in self-replication: Replicating Shah, Mullainathan, and Shafir (2012)," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 75(PA).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:75:y:2019:i:pa:s016748701830309x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2018.12.001
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    1. Leandro S. Carvalho & Stephan Meier & Stephanie W. Wang, 2016. "Poverty and Economic Decision-Making: Evidence from Changes in Financial Resources at Payday," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(2), pages 260-284, February.
    2. Camerer, Colin & Dreber, Anna & Forsell, Eskil & Ho, Teck-Hua & Huber, Jurgen & Johannesson, Magnus & Kirchler, Michael & Almenberg, Johan & Altmejd, Adam & Chan, Taizan & Heikensten, Emma & Holzmeist, 2016. "Evaluating replicability of laboratory experiments in Economics," MPRA Paper 75461, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Stephen A. Spiller, 2011. "Opportunity Cost Consideration," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 38(4), pages 595-610.
    4. Colin F. Camerer & Anna Dreber & Felix Holzmeister & Teck-Hua Ho & Jürgen Huber & Magnus Johannesson & Michael Kirchler & Gideon Nave & Brian A. Nosek & Thomas Pfeiffer & Adam Altmejd & Nick Buttrick , 2018. "Evaluating the replicability of social science experiments in Nature and Science between 2010 and 2015," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(9), pages 637-644, September.
    5. Eesha Sharma & Adam L. Alter, 2012. "Financial Deprivation Prompts Consumers to Seek Scarce Goods," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 39(3), pages 545-560.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hilbert, Leon P. & Noordewier, Marret K. & van Dijk, Wilco W., 2022. "Financial scarcity increases discounting of gains and losses: Experimental evidence from a household task," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    2. Schmitt, Stefanie Yvonne & Schlatterer, Markus G., 2020. "Poverty and limited attention," BERG Working Paper Series 159, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.
    3. van Dijk, Wilco W. & van der Werf, Minou M.B. & van Dillen, Lotte F., 2022. "The Psychological Inventory of Financial Scarcity (PIFS): A psychometric evaluation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    4. Ariel Kalil & Susan Mayer & Rohen Shah, 2023. "Scarcity and Inattention," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 7(1), pages 35-42, November.
    5. Guilherme Lichand & Anandi Mani, 2020. "Cognitive Droughts," CSAE Working Paper Series 2020-02, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    6. Isler, Ozan & Yilmaz, Onurcan & Dulleck, Uwe, 2023. "Scarcity improves economic valuations when cognitively salient," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 362-371.
    7. Dominguez-Viera, Marcos E. & van den Berg, Marrit & Handgraaf, Michel & Donovan, Jason, 2023. "Influence of poverty concerns on demand for healthier processed foods: A field experiment in Mexico City," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    8. Wu, Sherry Jueyu & Cheek, Nathan N. & Shafir, Eldar, 2025. "Scarcity undermines directed attention and pleasurable thinking," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    9. Felipe González-Arango & Javier Corredor & María Angélica López-Ardila & María Camila Contreras-González & Juan Herrera-Santofimio & Jhonathan Jared González, 2022. "The duality of poverty: a replication of Mani et al. (2013) in Colombia," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 39-73, February.
    10. Kai Ruggeri & Amma Panin & Milica Vdovic & Bojana Većkalov & Nazeer Abdul-Salaam & Jascha Achterberg & Carla Akil & Jolly Amatya & Kanchan Amatya & Thomas Lind Andersen & Sibele D. Aquino & Arjoon Aru, 2022. "The globalizability of temporal discounting," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(10), pages 1386-1397, October.
    11. Sunyík, Viktória & Grežo, Matúš & Adamus, Magdalena, 2025. "Cognitive perspective on the self-reinforcing nature of poverty: Is subjective scarcity related to financial behaviour via the ability to think analytically?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    12. Guilherme Lichand & Anandi Mani, 2020. "Cognitive droughts," ECON - Working Papers 341, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    13. Schmitt, Stefanie Y. & Schlatterer, Markus G., 2021. "Poverty and limited attention," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).

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