"It is not because of a few thousand francs which would have to be spent to put a roof over the third-class carriage or to upholster the third-class seats that some company or other has open carriages with wooden benches... What the company is trying to do is to prevent the passengers who can pay the second-class fare from traveling third-class; it hits the poor not because it wants to hurt them, but to frighten the rich."

Ever wonder why a Starbuck's latte costs as much as it does? Tim Harford, in his sensational The Undercover Economist, employs the illustration above to explain how a core economics principle - price targeting - affects most everything we buy.

Highly recommended for anyone with even a mere passing interest in economics. As good as a business school course but a lot more entertaining and very-well written. Read this book and you will become a smarter consumer, voter and investor.

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