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Rising repair costs and the throwaway society

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Listed:
  • John McCollough
  • Ailian Qiu

Abstract

When faced with a malfunctioning household product, consumers can choose to repair their older product for further reuse or they can discard it and purchase a newly manufactured version. Electing to replace the older, malfunctioning product may impact the environment negatively. Over time repair costs have been rising faster than the cost of newly manufactured products. As a result, many more consumers are choosing to not have their older products repaired. This article examines empirically the cause of rising repair costs, taking automobiles as an example, and discusses wider issues around the ‘throwaway society’.

Suggested Citation

  • John McCollough & Ailian Qiu, 2021. "Rising repair costs and the throwaway society," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 284-298, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecaffa:v:41:y:2021:i:2:p:284-298
    DOI: 10.1111/ecaf.12477
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Mane, Ferran, 1999. "Trends in the payoff to academic and occupation-specific skills: the short and medium run returns to academic and vocational high school courses for non-college-bound students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 417-437, October.
    4. Antonio Bento & Kevin Roth & Yiou Zuo, 2018. "Vehicle Lifetime Trends and Scrappage Behavior in the U.S. Used Car Market," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
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