Alternate thoery: The repair cost of a new appliance will generally increase/stay fixed over its life (hard to find parts, labor rates remain fixed). The price

Alternate thoery: The repair cost of a new appliance will generally increase/stay fixed over its life (hard to find parts, labor rates remain fixed). The price of an equivalent new appliance will tend to decrease along an expected rate of innovation. Thus, the expected life of a product tends to reflect a pivot point where the repair cost curve exceeds some threshold where a new appliance becomes attractive financially. The rate of innovation is then the primary drive of expected product life, and if innovation increased in the 90s and 00s, expected product life naturally decreased. If innovation slows, expected product life should start increasing again.