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To reduce waste, you'd have to make things more repairable -> But the labor costs in developed economies discourages that If you make things more repairable ->

To reduce waste, you'd have to make things more repairable -> But the labor costs in developed economies discourages that If you make things more repairable -> net consumption might go down -> this might lead to loss of jobs. Does my analysis make any sense?

jkoudys 7y ago
Not really. A => B doesn't imply that not-A => not-B. Total number of jobs or time spent in the labour market is one thing, but ultimately what we care about is efficiently creating utility. If I need to spend 5h working to get enough money to replace something I could've fixed in 0.5h, that's not good for the economy as a whole. Were it otherwise, every home would be built without a kitchen and people would go out to eat all the time. We'd need more jobs for people staffing the kitchens, but it wouldn't help people overall.
- tomatocracy 7y ago
  > Were it otherwise, every home would be built without a kitchen and people would go out to eat all the time. We'd need more jobs for people staffing the kitchens, but it wouldn't help people overall. Isn't the 'ready meal' phenomenon essentially this? Someone else does the real cooking, you just store then heat it up. Plenty of people survive solely, or mostly, on that.
mikeash 7y ago
Seems to me that your two points oppose each other. If the cost of repair is too high because of labor costs, that indicates that it would create jobs, not destroy them.
- kja1123 7y ago
  Yeah I wasn't sure about that myself. Just thinking out aloud.
- pdonis 7y ago
  > If the cost of repair is too high because of labor costs, that indicates that it would create jobs, not destroy them. Not if people, foreseeing high repair costs, simply figured out how to do without the items altogether and stopped buying them.
ElFitz 7y ago
Aren't most of said unrepairable things made abroad? How would it impact the internal economy? Wouldn't it just reduce imports and improve the country's trade balance? Seriously wondering. I most probably don't know enough about all that to make any statement
notatoad 7y ago
>But the labor costs in developed economies discourages that Which is a perfect example of poorly priced externalities. The full cost of disposal should be priced into everything produced. It is completely backwards that throwing a glass bottle in the trash is cheaper than sterilizing and re-using it.

jkoudys 7y ago

Not really. A => B doesn't imply that not-A => not-B. Total number of jobs or time spent in the labour market is one thing, but ultimately what we care about is efficiently creating utility. If I need to spend 5h working to get enough money to replace something I could've fixed in 0.5h, that's not good for the economy as a whole. Were it otherwise, every home would be built without a kitchen and people would go out to eat all the time. We'd need more jobs for people staffing the kitchens, but it wouldn't help people overall.

tomatocracy 7y ago
> Were it otherwise, every home would be built without a kitchen and people would go out to eat all the time. We'd need more jobs for people staffing the kitchens, but it wouldn't help people overall. Isn't the 'ready meal' phenomenon essentially this? Someone else does the real cooking, you just store then heat it up. Plenty of people survive solely, or mostly, on that.

mikeash 7y ago

Seems to me that your two points oppose each other. If the cost of repair is too high because of labor costs, that indicates that it would create jobs, not destroy them.

kja1123 7y ago
Yeah I wasn't sure about that myself. Just thinking out aloud.
pdonis 7y ago
> If the cost of repair is too high because of labor costs, that indicates that it would create jobs, not destroy them. Not if people, foreseeing high repair costs, simply figured out how to do without the items altogether and stopped buying them.

ElFitz 7y ago

Aren't most of said unrepairable things made abroad? How would it impact the internal economy? Wouldn't it just reduce imports and improve the country's trade balance? Seriously wondering. I most probably don't know enough about all that to make any statement

notatoad 7y ago

>But the labor costs in developed economies discourages that Which is a perfect example of poorly priced externalities. The full cost of disposal should be priced into everything produced. It is completely backwards that throwing a glass bottle in the trash is cheaper than sterilizing and re-using it.