Argumentum ad lazarum

Argumentum ad lazarum or appeal to poverty is the informal fallacy of thinking a conclusion is correct solely because the speaker is poor, or it is incorrect because the speaker is rich.

It is named after Lazarus, a beggar in a New Testament parable who receives his reward in the afterlife.

This is popularly summarized as the statement, "Poor, but honest."

Some experimental evidence supports the appeal to poverty.

A 2017 study by Igor Grossmann and Justin Brienza at the University of Waterloo in Canada found that when "wisdom" is defined as the ability to consider opposing perspectives and find a compromise that defuses an interpersonal dispute, poor and working-class people are more likely to show such an ability compared to those in higher socioeconomic classes.