WHY THE POOR PAY MORE: AN ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION.

The article offers various explanations as to why poor in the U.S. pay more. One aspect of the literature on the plight of the low-income consumer has to do with the market for consumer durables and credit. Several authors have performed empirical analyses of the consumer durable market. Previous studies have formulated the hypothesis that if the merchant charges a higher total price to a nonwhite shopper than that charged a white shopper for an identical item, the authors of those studies assert that racial preferences account for the merchant's behavior. To test this hypothesis, the authors carefully selected four couples, two black and two white. The experiment design consisted of shopping trips by couples for a specified television set. The article authors conclude that the first thing that researchers and policymakers must insure, when dealing with the problems of poverty, is that they do no harm. To insure against doing harm requires dispassionate analysis that avoids the mere characterization of behavior.