A more pessimistic interpretation is that competition placed pressure on manufacturers to cut costs without a corresponding increase in quality. While in theory, competition should tend towards creating products that maximize consumer satisfaction, it won’t do so if consumers cannot fully evaluate the quality of a product. Or if consumers have sufficiently high discount rates that they are not thinking about the long-term.
As clone of saturn noted, one need not posit a conspiracy for planned obsolescence to occur. The ordinary process of increasing profits combined with information asymmetry is more than sufficient. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that the old products are better, but I’d suspect that over time, manufacturers starting placing greater emphasis on “what will sell” relative to “what represents high quality craftsmanship.”
As clone of saturn noted, one need not posit a conspiracy for planned obsolescence to occur. The ordinary process of increasing profits combined with information asymmetry is more than sufficient. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that the old products are better, but I’d suspect that over time, manufacturers starting placing greater emphasis on “what will sell” relative to “what represents high quality craftsmanship.”
I understand how this can be an explanation for level effects, but not how this can explain the delta.
I don’t have concrete data to back this up, but I’d expect the market for selling consumer goods is much more competitive than 100 years ago, given the rise of globalization, and increasing trade more generally.
Hmm so framed another way, I think the claim is that capitalism previously had created inner optimizers in individuals interested in “high quality craftsmanship,” but over time the alignment problem has been better solved with more optimization power and now individuals/companies are better optimized for selling goods. Does this sound like an accurate paraphrase of your position?
Does this sound like an accurate paraphrase of your position?
I’d say roughly, yes. However, I would interpret with caution the idea that there is a coherent objective function implied by the market that we have recently gotten better at solving.
A more pessimistic interpretation is that competition placed pressure on manufacturers to cut costs without a corresponding increase in quality. While in theory, competition should tend towards creating products that maximize consumer satisfaction, it won’t do so if consumers cannot fully evaluate the quality of a product. Or if consumers have sufficiently high discount rates that they are not thinking about the long-term.
As clone of saturn noted, one need not posit a conspiracy for planned obsolescence to occur. The ordinary process of increasing profits combined with information asymmetry is more than sufficient. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that the old products are better, but I’d suspect that over time, manufacturers starting placing greater emphasis on “what will sell” relative to “what represents high quality craftsmanship.”
I understand how this can be an explanation for level effects, but not how this can explain the delta.
I don’t have concrete data to back this up, but I’d expect the market for selling consumer goods is much more competitive than 100 years ago, given the rise of globalization, and increasing trade more generally.
Hmm so framed another way, I think the claim is that capitalism previously had created inner optimizers in individuals interested in “high quality craftsmanship,” but over time the alignment problem has been better solved with more optimization power and now individuals/companies are better optimized for selling goods. Does this sound like an accurate paraphrase of your position?
(FWIW it sounds pretty plausible to me)
I’d say roughly, yes. However, I would interpret with caution the idea that there is a coherent objective function implied by the market that we have recently gotten better at solving.