The Economics of Etiquette

Poor people don’t write “thank you” notes, guess how I know

I have a friend who always writes me “thank you” notes for gifts. While I, an adult, know this is common practice, not a single member of my estranged extended family does this. My mother’s parents grew up poor during the Depression. My father is the first person in his family in hundreds of years who wasn’t a farmer. None of these people ever sent a “T…