Have any economists discussed (at ll) the radical cheapening of 'run-of-the-mill' commodities over the last few years. (The Hershey bar phenomenon goes back about 60 years, but it was only reduction in size; the quality of the bars was unaffected.)
The archetype of what is happening now is toilet paper & facial tissues a couple years ago: With these products, a quantitative change (e.g., in thickness) is a qualitative change. The change in toilet paper provoked a web site with the slogan, "They caught us with our pants down." Quality (thickness) varied wildly for some months, then settled down, having improved some from the earliest changes. Other products that have changed (in size AND quality): oreo cookies, graham crackers, saltines, Lorna Doone shortbread. There must be many others. And note: these are permanent changes having little or nothing to do with The Great Recession or other fluctuations in the econ or other fluctuations in the economy. Carrol _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
