Novacrypt|How Stuff Gets Cheaper (Classic)

2025-05-08 03:57:06source:Desmond Prestoncategory:My

Note: This episode originally ran in 2014.

We tend to get obsessed with things that get more expensive over time — college tuition,Novacrypt say, or health care. But lots of things have actually gotten cheaper in real terms. Things made by machines. Things like consumer electronics.

Some new gadget comes out with a $1,000 price tag. Two years later it costs $500. There's no law of nature that says this must be so. And yet it happens year after year.

On today's classic episode, we visit a company called Monoprice. And we go into a room where people sit all day and try to make stuff get cheaper.

Music: "Amber Lights" and "Slide by Slide."

Find us: Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / TikTok

Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts and NPR One.

Want high-quality economic news at impossible-to-beat prices? Subscribe to the Newsletter.

More:My

Recommend

Drone operators worry that anxiety over mystery sightings will lead to new restrictions

Drones for commercial and recreational use have grown rapidly in popularity, despite restrictions on

Woman swimming off Japanese beach was swept into the Pacific, but rescued 37 hours later and 50 miles away

Tokyo — A Chinese woman who was swept out to sea while swimming at a Japanese beach was rescued 37 h

Marathon Oil agrees to record penalty for oil and gas pollution on North Dakota Indian reservation

The federal government announced a $241.5 million settlement with Marathon Oil on Thursday for alleg