In the West, a lifestyle of unnecessary spending has been deliberately cultivated and nurtured in the public by big business. Companies in all kinds of industries have a huge stake in the public’s 46 to be careless with their money. They will seek to encourage the public’s habit of casual or non-essential spending 47 they can. Researchers once conducted studies on what effect the nagging of children had on their parents’ likelihood of buying a toy for them. They found that about 40% of the purchases of their toys would not have occurred if the child didn’t nag its parents. Companies used these studies to market their products directly to children, 48 them to nag their parents to buy. This is only one example of how consumers can be 49 into wanting and buying. Big companies didn’t make their millions by earnestly promoting the virtues of their products; 50 , they made it by creating a culture of hundreds of millions of people that buy way more than they need and try to chase away dissatisfaction with money.