re: in reality, most pencil purchasers will merely make the same use of the pencil as in the prior year, and pay the same price, a quality adjustment to the price index is entirely unwarranted
I have 3 PCs at home: one we just bought, one 2 years old, and the last 4 years old. The computer games I bought for my kids this Christmas, run best on the new PC, adequately on the 2Y-old PC, and not at all on the oldest PC.
I bought a new car this year. I also have a 10-year old car that I bought new, still runs great. The new car has a long list of features that the old one doesn't have: air bags, all-wheel drive, heated seats, 6-CD player, etc. When I buy a car 10 years from now, I'll bet it has a list of things, that are today unavailable: things like a GPS and YellowPages controlled by voice, that can tell me where the nearest Pizza place is, and give me directions on how to get there.
Your premise is that nothing ever gets any better, and that therefore improvements should be ignored. I see steadily improving products everywhere. |
