# Terry Pratchett – Boots theory of poverty **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 19, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094 "2025-10-19T16:10:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/1 "2025-10-19T16:10:33Z")
Where do I find Terry Pratchett’s boots theory of poverty? I’ve seen it referred to on the Boards but can’t find it again. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/2 "2025-10-19T16:19:57Z")
[Boots theory - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory) Here it is. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/3 "2025-10-19T16:22:27Z")
Thank you! I should have realised that Sir Terry’s contribution to socio-economic theory woukd have been picked up on Wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/4 "2025-10-19T19:53:29Z")
[Sam Vimes ‘Boots’ Theory of Socio-Economic Unfairness | Terry Pratchett](https://terrypratchett.com/explore-discworld/sam-vimes-boots-theory-of-socio-economic-unfairness/) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/5 "2025-10-19T20:21:51Z")
Of course, even after Vimes eventually becomes rich, he still chooses to wear cardboard-soled boots, mostly because that’s what he’s used to. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/6 "2025-10-19T21:19:16Z")
There’s also Douglas Adams’s [shoe event horizon](https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Shoe_Event_Horizon) from the _Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy_ radio series (season 2), which aired in 1980. > The theory is summarized as such: as a society sinks into depression, the people of the society need to cheer themselves up by buying themselves gifts, often shoes. It is also linked to the fact that when you are depressed you look down at your shoes and decide they aren’t good enough quality so buy more expensive replacements. As more money is spent on shoes, more shoe shops are built, and the quality of the shoes begins to diminish as the demand for different types of shoes increases. This makes people buy more shoes. > > The above turns into a vicious cycle, causing other industries to decline. > > Eventually the titular Shoe Event Horizon is reached, where the only type of store economically viable to build is a shoe shop. At this point, society ceases to function, and the economy collapses, sending a world spiralling into ruin. In the show Arthur encounters an archaeologist who is looking at a crumbly stratum of rock-like material that turns out to be a compressed ancient layer of shoes formed by the planet’s inhabitants creating an entirely shoe-driven consumption economy. Doubtless Pratchett would have been familiar with this. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/7 "2025-10-20T02:08:17Z")
Damn, I love this board. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/8 "2025-10-20T05:10:04Z")
So, no debate if this is true in the real world? As to the boots there is a third option: that instead of buying the new high quality boots or the new low quality boots some of us would buy used high quality boots [as the new high quality boot purchaser will often donate them after a few years as they are no longer in style or are somewhat worn]. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/9 "2025-10-20T05:25:37Z")
One of the more repulsive moments in the completely worthless, tin-eared _The Watch_ series was that it chose to include this, but treat it as a joke. (In a later episode while arguing with “Vimes”, “Lady Sybil” says “Why aren’t you wearing decent boots? Oh, yeah, that’s right. _ **“My boots cost $10.”** _” in a mocking tone.) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/eJrTRmrW09o/hqdefault.jpg "BBC's The Watch | Boots Theory?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJrTRmrW09o) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/10 "2025-10-20T05:36:01Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > So, no debate if this is true in the real world? > **[Barton Financial Group](https://bartonfinancialgroup.com/insights/understanding-the-boots-theory-of-economic-unfairness)** > **[Walking the Sam Vimes ‘Boots’ theory back in time | Letters](https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2022/jan/31/walking-the-sam-vimes-boots-theory-back-in-time)** > > Letters: Sally Goldsmith traces the idea back to The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists, while Cassy Firth says the adage ‘buy cheap, buy twice’ was a favourite of northern grannies ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/12 "2025-10-20T08:36:45Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > So, no debate if this is true in the real world? There’s plenty of evidence to show that it is. [https://wiki.lspace.org/Vimes\_Boots\_Index](https://wiki.lspace.org/Vimes_Boots_Index) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/13 "2025-10-20T11:14:32Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > One of the more repulsive moments in the completely worthless, tin-eared _The Watch_ series was that it chose to include this, but treat it as a joke. (In a later episode while arguing with “Vimes”, “Lady Sybil” says “Why aren’t you wearing decent boots? Oh, yeah, that’s right. _ **“My boots cost $10.”** _” in a mocking tone.) > > [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eJrTRmrW09o](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eJrTRmrW09o) I’m really glad I didn’t watch that show. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/14 "2025-10-20T14:34:46Z")
It’s a little weird that this one paragraph may be best-known (or most widely-known) thing that Terry Pratchett wrote. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/15 "2025-10-20T14:44:29Z")
As famous as Heinlein was, what has stuck in the consciousness that even younger people (under 30s) are somewhat aware of? **Grok** and probably **TANSTAAFL**. People still use the latter and have no clue to its origin or that Heinlein is the one that popularized it. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/16 "2025-10-20T14:49:45Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > People still use the latter and have no clue to its origin or that Heinlein is the one that popularized it. They probably don’t know who Heinlein is in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/17 "2025-10-20T14:50:28Z")
Yes, exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/18 "2025-10-20T20:54:04Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > So, no debate if this is true in the real world? No, no debate. It’s true. Now, boots aren’t the only thing keeping the poor poor. The paragraph quoted in the Wiki article starts > [@](#): > > The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. … (emphasis mine) There are a lot of things out there that are “poor taxes”. For example, laundromats. The one downtown charges $5 for a wash. You have to buy a card and use that for wash / dry. You pay $20 and they put $18 worth on the card (when you re-fill the card, $20 gets you $20), so there’s more you’re paying than you get out of it. Meanwhile, you can get a new washer for $600 or so. If you do 3 loads of laundry each week, you’ve paid the laundromat more than that in a year. But if you’re living on minimum wage, you don’t have $600 to spend on a washing machine right now. I can afford $600, so I have a washing machine at home. There are plenty of similar examples out there. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/19 "2025-10-20T21:09:42Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > So, no debate if this is true in the real world? I think it’s true in the same sense that a proverb or rule of thumb is true, but not in the sense that a law of physics or mathematical theorem is true. That is, it’s true in many specific instances, but it cannot be counted on as a guide to every specific instance. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/20 "2025-10-20T21:14:14Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > TANSTAAFL No idea what this is, but I’m not a Heinlein fan. Did not know grok came from Heinlein, though I knew it was a sci-fi reference. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-boots-theory-of-poverty/1024094/21 "2025-10-20T21:14:35Z")
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