For example, if a poor person gets an extra income by accident, his most rational approach should be to stock up on cheap food in large quantities, so that he can be assured that there will be food rations the next day and the third day, and he can also go back to earn more money. But in fact, the two authors found that in some of the poorest areas of the world, spending on radios and TV sets was much higher than what they spent on food. Some poor villages don't even have electricity and just keep their televisions at home. The poor seem to have an excessive obsession with so-called luxuries.

These two things are not quite the same, or even somewhat out of place, with the stereotypical image we usually have of the poor.

I believe that none of us will go worrying about tomorrow's rations; none of us are in the category of the poor. But you will find that the way the poor think is similar to the way ordinary people and even to the rich think.

For example, if a poor person gets an extra income by accident, his most rational approach should be to stock up on cheap food in large quantities, so that he can be assured that there will be food rations the next day and the third day, and he can also go back to earn more money. But in fact, the two authors found that in some of the poorest areas of the world, spending on radios and TV sets was much higher than what they spent on food. Some poor villages don't even have electricity and just keep their televisions at home. The poor seem to have an excessive obsession with so-called luxuries.

These two things are not quite the same, or even somewhat out of place, with the stereotypical image we usually have of the poor.

I believe that none of us will go worrying about tomorrow's rations; none of us are in the category of the poor. But you will find that the way the poor think is similar to the way ordinary people and even to the rich think.