Herbert Simon defined attention as the scarce resource that information consumes.

Evidence

Coming nearly a century after Tarde, we generally consider Herbert Simon to be the father of the attention economy. In a conference in 1969, published in 1971, he asserted that ‘the wealth of information means a dearth of something else – a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients.’ — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 35

Categorization

• DEFINE: The canonical definition of the attention economy: information’s wealth produces a scarcity of attention.
• XREF: connects to: Attention is the scarce resource that powers the information economy. — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 8; Attention is a scarce resource drained by information overload — Thomas Davenport & John Beck, The Attention Economy: Understanding…, 17; Information abundance creates a scarcity of attention — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 7 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Attention is the scarce resource that powers the information economy. #corroborates (0.95) — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 8
• Attention is a scarce resource drained by information overload #corroborates (0.90) — Thomas Davenport & John Beck, The Attention Economy, 17
• Information abundance creates a scarcity of attention #expands (0.90) — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 7
• Abundant information makes human attention a scarce economic resource. #corroborates (0.90) — Annual Review of Anthropology contributors (⚠ verify author line), The Political Economy of Attention, 18
• Human serial attention limits make attention the scarce resource #expands (0.85) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 137
• Herbert Simon’s bounded rationality decomposed the optimizing economic man #expands (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 331
• Attention is a socially produced and politically governed resource, not merely a scarce one. #qualifies (0.80) — Annual Review of Anthropology contributors (⚠ verify author line), The Political Economy of Attention, 19
• Objections to rational choice theory shifted from emotional to cognitive grounds after Simon. #expands (0.80)
• Attention is a finite resource whose unequal distribution produces symbolic misery #expands (0.75) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 185
• Rational expectations theory was formulated as a direct rebuttal to Simon’s bounded-rationality critique #responds-to (0.75) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 170