Suppose you got no sleep last night and you have to take an intelligence test today. If you're like most people, you're not going to do so well on that test.
Now suppose you are struggling with poverty and you have to take the same intelligence test. How, if at all, will your test score be affected?
Harvard University economist Sendhil Mullainathan and Princeton University psychologist Eldar Shafir offer a clear answer: You will probably do pretty badly.