Why does yesterday’s cheap food become tomorrow’s luxury?

Why does mass production sometimes destroy prestige instead of creating it?

And when artificial intelligence makes answers cheap, what becomes expensive next?

WHEN POOR BECOMES PREMIUM follows an unlikely trail—from Chongqing hotpot, roast duck, tea, soup dumplings, bird’s nest, and aged ham to polyester, sugar-free drinks, infinite menus, AI decision systems, authorization gates, and real-world liability.

The pattern is surprisingly consistent.

Scarcity creates value.
Scale attacks scarcity.
Abundance weakens old signals.
Then value moves somewhere else.

First to curation. Then to judgment. Then to permission. And finally to the institutions capable of standing behind a decision when reality sends the bill.

Through vivid stories, sharp reversals, and practical economic models, Haijian Xing shows why premium value is rarely attached permanently to a product. It migrates toward whatever remains difficult to produce, difficult to choose, difficult to authorize, or expensive to get wrong.

Along the way, the book asks a larger question about the AI economy:

When generation becomes abundant, what remains scarce enough to command a premium?

The answer is not simply intelligence.

It is filtering. Judgment. Control. Risk-bearing capacity.

And ultimately, the ability to make a choice real—and survive the consequences.

Premium moves because scarcity moves.