Os pobres são mais racionais com o dinheiro que os ricos?

How the Poor Make Better Financial Decisions Than the Wealthy, por Anuj Shah (Slate):

People often assume that the poor are less competent than the wealthy. Some even suggest that the poor have flawed values or ways of thinking. But my colleagues and I have recently found that the poor outperform the rich at some financial decisions. Under poverty, people develop a unique expertise.

To appreciate this expertise, we should first come to terms with a mistake nearly everyone makes. Consider this question, which I regularly pose to my MBA students: Imagine you are buying a $300 tablet, but the salesman says the same tablet is available for $50 less at a store 20 minutes away. Would you travel for the discount? Almost certainly. Now imagine that the tablet costs $1,000. Would you still travel the 20 minutes to save $50? Now you might hesitate.

You are not alone. People are far more likely to say “no” to the second question than the first, even my MBA students, whose jobs are to make good financial decisions. This is a common response. It is also irrational. (...)

Across two studies, more than 2,500 participants responded to the tablet scenario. Eldar Shafir, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Icompared responses from wealthy and poor participants, defined as those earning more than and less than our sample’s median household income (which was $55,000) and adjusted for household size (the median was three people). The wealthy showed the usual pattern. When the tablet was cheaper, they were more likely to travel for the discount. But the poor were equally willing to travel regardless of the tablet’s price.

Eu tenho uma opinião ainda mais radical sobre o desconto - faz mais sentido fazer a caminhada de 20 minutos para poupar 50 dólares no caso de uma mesa cara do que no de uma mesa barata: se a utilidade marginal do dinheiro for decrescente, e assumindo que à partido eu tenho "X" dólares, a diferença entre "X-950" e "X-1000" dólares é mais relevante que a diferença entre "X-250" e "X-300" dólares.


http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/06/are_the_poor_more_rational_spenders_than_the_wealthy.html