Political exploitation 2
There is another utility too, if majority of people are poor and you run a democracy then arm-twisting them will be so easy!
Appoint a few of them for dimes to terrorize the others, huge return in lieu of minimal investment. Heard their stories, how the entire villages were forced to stay indoors on dates of voting while cadres casted votes on their behalf!
The result? No matter how hard the educated people of towns tried to get rid of them they won in this manner. With huge margin of votes too.
Can you imagine this scenario in an affluent society? No, they will take every possible action to get rid of those corrupt oppressors I believe. Because with money comes power, education and spare time to think about consequences, maybe changes too!
Sharmishtha Basu (author) writes 