The modern world is filled with tiny attentional impositions (cognitive-asks) that inflict small mental burdens (micro-costs) on virtually everyone, everywhere, all the time. Micro-costs make life worse, and everybody knows it. They sap collective energy; they lead to worse decisions; they exacerbate inequality; and they contribute to an overall sense of “mismanagement” in the world, a sentiment that readily pairs with destructive political impulses. Yet the law has essentially ignored micro-costs—until now. In what follows, we construct a theory of micro-costs that gives the phenomenon analytic shape and charts a path forward for reform. Drawing on the insights of philosophy, economics, and cognitive science, we canvass the ways that micro-costs crowd out the best parts of life, impair cognitive performance, and inflame societal disaffection. Micro-costs are everywhere—cutting across otherwise-disparate spheres of life—because a host of technological, social, and organizational developments have made cognitive-asks cheaper, more valuable, and harder to avoid than in years past. Motivated by this diagnosis, the Article culminates with a number of ideas for regulating micro-costs on the ground.

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Brennan-Marquez_Maher_Micro-Costs