I found this picture on David Zetland’s new blog, Aguanomics:

I had a number of different reactions. One was that it’s terrible that this person is so poor that they have to use plastic bottles for shoes. They don’t look very comfy either. But the other reaction was to be highly impressed by the innovation and creativity shown. Did you ever think that plastic bottles could be used for shoes?

I came to the following hypothesis: Human creativity is not limited by poverty. Put another way, the reason why some countries are poor is probably not a lack of ideas and innovation.