What a pay rise actually buys

When the Okonkwo family's income rose by fourteen percent, they expected to feel richer. They kept a detailed spending diary for twelve months to find out what the money did.

Roughly forty percent vanished into rises in existing costs: rent indexation, a better school lunch, a bigger grocery basket. Another thirty went to what the household called 'removing friction': taxis instead of buses, delivery instead of shopping. Only a quarter was saved.

The ratchet of comfort

Economists describe the pattern as a hedonic treadmill, but in practice it looked like ordinary small kindnesses to tired people. Nobody was irresponsible. Each choice made a week easier.