Man Page Writing: Life/Times of Man Page Writer

To what extent does our economy benefit from (at least, statistically) more financially sophisticated, perhaps more highly educated persons taking advantage of the less sophisticated, less well-educated? Let's make a list of industries/economic activities where this dynamic is at work:

• anything sold on TV infomercials
• (related to the preceding) exercise machines (with special mention for any device that includes the word "ab")
• many financial services (a huge segment that deserves its own note)
• exotic mortgages (special subset of preceding)
• contract-based cell phones
• paycheck loans
• tax services that offer "immediate refunds"
• diet books, diet programs, anything that has "diet" in its name

Is there more of this stuff going on now than in previous periods of our history? It might be easier to conduct such a business in age of instant communication than it was before radio, TV, and the internet became common.

Maybe it's not fair to include the "diet" category, because the overeating/dieting seesaw does not discriminate by education, income, or some nebulous trait such as sophistication. But my larger point is that we, in the US, and probably in the other wealthy nations, generate a lot of money from situations where there is asymmetric information.

A number of the items above would require further qualification. E.g., cell phones are an enhancement to the lives of many, but how many people are paying more than they need to (or can afford) for such service? OTOH, some segments are pretty close to being categorical stinkers: I can't make the case for a low-income person paying to have their taxes done when there are services out there that will do it for free.