AlgoMags
Attention is the scarce resource
Essays · November 14, 2026 · 6 min read
In 1971 the economist Herbert Simon observed that a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention. Half a century later, that observation describes the central constraint of modern marketing.
The economics of attention
Every hour a buyer spends is contested by every brand, creator, platform and notification in their life. Supply of content has grown without limit, especially since generative AI made it nearly free. Supply of attention has not grown at all.
When one resource is fixed and everything competing for it multiplies, its price rises. Advertising costs, the effort required for organic reach and the bar for content quality all reflect that rising price.
What earns attention now
Attention is earned by being more useful, more specific or more trusted than the alternatives at the moment of need. Three approaches work consistently:
- Answer real questions completely, so the buyer has no reason to look elsewhere
- Be specific, because specificity signals expertise and generic content signals the opposite
- Be consistent over time, because familiarity lowers the cost of paying attention
The respect principle
Attention given is time taken from something else. Content that wastes it trains the audience to ignore the next piece. Content that rewards it trains the audience to return. A system built on respect for attention compounds; a system built on capturing it by any means burns out its own audience.