For anyone who hasn't read Terry Pratchett, Sam Vimes is in charge of the local police force, and ultimately ends up married to the richest woman in the country. Here is his theory of Economic Unfairness
The reason the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. ..... But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. 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.
As we are nearly at boot-buying season I thought I would remind myself of this fact when being tempted by cheap plastic boots. (Though I should point out that I have no intention of spending more than a month's salary on a pair of boots!)
I strongly believe this theory also applies to coats.