In the novel 1993 novel Men at Arms, the second novel focusing on the City Watch through Vimes' perspective, Pratchett introduces the "Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness" through Vimes musing on how expensive it is to be poor: In the Discworld series of novels by Terry Pratchett, Sam Vimes is the cynical but likable captain of the City Watch of the fictional city-state of Ankh-Morpork. In response, the ONS shifted to averaging inflation within income levels. In 2022, Jack Monroe announced work on the Vimes Boots Index (VBI), a price index that would measure the cost of the cheapest staple foods, stating the Office of National Statistics' (ONS) Consumer Price Index underestimated inflation. The theory has been cited with regard to analyses of the prices of boots, gas prices, and economic conditions in the United Kingdom.
Inspirations may have included similar scenes in Robert Tressell's 1914 novel The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists and a 1954 column for The Observer by Paul Jennings. In the novel, Sam Vimes, the captain of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, illustrates with the example of boots.
The term was popularized by English fantasy writer Sir Terry Pratchett in his 1993 Discworld novel Men at Arms. 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.
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