for example food price increases are generally beneficial for the agrorural poor who at the very least will see their earning opportunities expand and negative for the urban poor who spend a very large proportion of their income on food and are directly made worse off by any increase in price moreover the winners and losers are not always distinct groups and some people could win in some ways and lose in others but when the poor are at the losing end of integration they are less capable of coping with adjustment and the effects can be long lasting particularly when family investments in health and education are affected