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Doesn’t efficiency imply commoditization and therefore economic stagnation or even contraction?
by eecc 4y ago
Doesn’t efficiency imply commoditization and therefore economic stagnation or even contraction?
- astrange 4y agoNo, productivity is good. For an example of the reverse, as the UK's economy has been shrinking in recent years, carwashes have been de-automating and replacing machines with handwashing. Luckily, humans are never satisfied and continue demanding new things, so making things cheaper doesn't reduce the total market. But also, those new things can be services or digital goods or 100% recycled, which is why the US uses less water per year and emits less CO2 per year in 2023 than it did in the 60s. (No, that's not because we outsourced it to China.)