Nigeria, Sept. 4 -- A poor Nigerian pays more for almost everything.

Not because the shopkeeper necessarily charges him more, but because he cannot afford to buy things in the way people with money do. He buys the small bottle because he cannot buy the carton. He buys fuel in litres because he cannot fill the tank. He repairs the phone because replacing it would swallow money he does not have. He takes the cheaper bus even when the journey will take twice as long. When the roof begins to leak, he puts a bowl under it and hopes the rain stops before the next problem arrives.

We usually call this survival. Sometimes it is simply what poverty looks like when there is no room left to make a mistake.

This is one of the things that gets los...