You do realize that the disc world books aren't actually economics research papers, yes?
Perhaps this is the level of economic background I should expect from internet commenters.
The quoted theory might be relevant if I were using my e.g. USB drives to exhaustion (and sometimes I do, and I buy the nice SSD drives), but sometimes I only need to use them once or twice, and buying a high-quality drive would be a waste.
I personally consider Terry Pratchett's quote as a rather elegant way of explaining one aspect of a "poverty trap", a concept which is well known in economics.
Perhaps this is the level of economic background I should expect from internet commenters.
The quoted theory might be relevant if I were using my e.g. USB drives to exhaustion (and sometimes I do, and I buy the nice SSD drives), but sometimes I only need to use them once or twice, and buying a high-quality drive would be a waste.