The city doubled the bus fare. There is a tea stall next to the bus stop
The city doubled the bus fare. There is a tea stall next to the bus stop. Ravi says the stall will not be affected — what does the fare have to do with a tea stall? Is Ravi right?
Who do you think is right? Pick one.
The answer: It could be affected
Why
Ravi's point sounds solid — a bus fare and a tea stall really are different things, no direct link between them. What he misses is the chain running through PEOPLE. The stall's customers are the people at the bus stop. Costlier fares mean some travel less, or have less money left after the fare — so fewer stop for tea, or the same people buy less. The fare never touches the stall directly; it changes people's behaviour, and their behaviour reaches the stall. Test: if a factory nearby shuts, the shops around it lose customers too, though the factory sold nothing they sell — people connect them. It could well be affected: things with no direct link still move each other through the people who share them.
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