The Sam Vimes "Boots" theory of socioeconomic unfairness, often called simply the boots theory, is an economic theory that people in poverty have to buy cheap and subpar products that need to be replaced repeatedly, proving more expensive in the long run than more expensive items. The term was coined by English fantasy writer Sir Terry Pratchett in his 1993 Discworld novel Men at Arms. In the novel, Sam Vimes, the captain of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, illustrates the concept with the example of boots.
The theory has been cited with regard to analyses of the prices of boots, fuel prices, and economic conditions in the United Kingdom.
Conception
In the Discworld series of novels by Terry Pratchett, Sam Vimes is the captain of the City Watch of the fictional city-state of Ankh-Morpork. In the 1993 novel Men at Arms, the second novel focusing on the City Watch through Vimes' perspective, Vimes muses on how expensive it is to be poor:
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for...
Matthew Lyon
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