Question

A friend says “25 years ago a new laptop computer sold for over $2,000. Today a typical laptop computer often sells for under $1,000 and often for under $500. This illustrates that people today don’t value laptop computers as much as they did 25 years ago.” Make a counter argument.

Answer 1

The counter argument is as follows:

The drop in price of computers today is due to the technological advancements, scalability of operations and presence of huge competition in the market for laptops. It has caused supply of computers to increase and supply curve shifts to the right. It causes increase in production of laptops, today with decrease in price. The drop in price of laptop is also due to the reason that there are different types, versions and capabilities of the laptop, available in the market, leading to a varied drop in its price. So, it is the genuine reason for the drop in the price of laptop.

Today, there are a huge number of computer users across different continents, that are many times more than what it was used, 25 years ago. So, the argument that people do not value laptops today, is inaccurate.