Some of the most interesting parts of that book discuss this graph, and the debate among economists about whether it’s real (which is ludicrous because of course the poverty trap is real). The graph is interesting though because it shows a level of income that societies should strive to achieve for their citizens, ie the minimum you need to earn to get out of the trap. I don’t thing Esther Duflo (author) touches on it, but the extension of this theory to UBI is clear. Everyone should earn that minimum.
Similar to the boots theory from the late Sir Terry Pratchett.
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. ... A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
There are a million ways being poor makes you more poor. Your job doesn't do direct deposit? Well that's a $35/mo maintenance fee at your bank for that. It's insane.
Medical debt is a uniquely American problem.
Everything except the dentistry in the UK would cost you nothing, and even that is in part paid for by the NHS.
Ummm... The post is about a thing that's not unique to america. It says nothing about medical debt. Not saying that it's not a problem but it's not the topic of this post.