4 ms·
Is there historical evidence of the deflationary power of operating systems? Windows has been on the market since 1985. If we're so much more efficient using W
by westicle 15y ago
Is there historical evidence of the deflationary power of operating systems?
Windows has been on the market since 1985. If we're so much more efficient using Windows than not, one would expect a dollar to be worth more today than back in the old, inefficent days of... whatever we had before.
However... in 1985 US$1.00 had the same buying power as US$2.08 does in 2011.
Average annual inflation over this period was 2.86%.
- adamjernst 15y agoSure, the measure you're looking for is GDP per capita: http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=ny_gdp_pcap_cd&idim=country:USA&dl=en&hl=en&q=gdp+per+capita http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&#... Inflation is a separate phenomenon that occurs through time and can be influenced by the money supply. The government encourages inflation to encourage investment (i.e. prevent people from hoarding cash) and for various other reasons. I'm only looking at a snapshot: imagine you work for a year in 1985 and spend all your money the same year. Can you buy more or less than if you work for the same amount of time (with the same skills etc) in 2011, and spend all your money the same year? Turns out you can buy much more in 2011. If you really want to look at the "through time" case, calculate what your $1.00 in 1985 would be worth if you invested it and what it could buy in each case.